Student Who Went Missing 14 Years Ago Turns Up In A Place So Crazy It Only Raises More Questions

student who went missing 14 years ago turns up in a place so crazy it only raises more questions [Music] [Applause] [Music] roy and kathleen experienced every parent's worst nightmare the day they heard their son had gone missing but this was not a disappearance like any other their search for their son led them on a path that they would have never imagined one that implicates some of the most powerful governments in the world david Sneden was a 24 year old student at Brigham Young University as a Mormon he regularly went on missionary trips around the world but David's voyages weren't always religiously motivated he loved to travel get to know other cultures and discovering nature he enjoyed hiking and was fluent in Korean that's how in 2004 his journeys took him to Asia having just finished a mission in South Korea David decided to fly to China for some sightseeing he said he was going to take a look around some touristy spots in southeast China before he came back remembers his father he emailed his parents often telling them about his adventures that's how they knew he was heading to Yunnan Province but nobody could have predicted what awaited him there one of the most popular tourist spots in Yunnan is the tiger leaping gorge a scenic canyon on the jinsha river visitors can hike on a trail that runs the length of the gorge and there's a robust tourist industry that surrounds it David's parents knew that's where he was heading and it's the last they heard of their son four days after his trip to Yunnan David was supposed to meet his brother and soul but he never showed up Kathleen contacted the US Embassy in Beijing where one official dismissively told her you can't lose an American in China days later they received a call from the Chinese government bearing terrible news David was dead or was he China's official story was that David had fallen to his death while hiking the tiger leaping gorge however his body had not been recovered the sneden's immediately doubted that explanation there's no evidence of that zero said Kathleen the family had many questions and they intended to find answers even if that meant retracing David's footsteps a month after the disappearance Roy and his sons Michael and James traveled to Yunnan to look for David or any evidence of his winter mounts as they hiked the tiger leaping gorge themselves they found the trail was not a dangerous one it was nothing difficult said Roy it was no big deal compared to the areas of Wyoming we'd backpack through as a family and that wasn't the only clue they encountered these sneden's met a tour guide who claimed he had walked the full trail with David meaning he hadn't fallen mid hike as the Chinese government claimed they also talked to the owner of a hostel at the end of the trail who said David had stayed there the family searched took them to shangri-la where a cafe owner remembered having seen David but that's where the trail went cold unable to find further information about David's whereabouts beyond shangri-la the sneden's had no choice but to leave the search to the US State Department the Department however accepted the official story of David's death Roy and Kathleen were out of options but they never lost hope then seven years later they received an extraordinary call the man who called the sneden's was Nicholas craft an attorney and an expert on North Korea crafts told the family he believed David had been kidnapped by the North Korean government given that his disappearance followed the pattern of other North Korean abductions of foreign nationals initially the couple was very skeptical I just thought it was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard said Kathleen but craft wasn't the only one with this theory melody Kirkpatrick was another North Korea expert who agreed with crafts assessment we know that North Korea operatives were active in that region around the same time David was there with China's full permission she stated in fact she had some information from a government official that could mean David was indeed taken to with Korea in 2013 Japanese Minister of State kiichi Furuya told Kirkpatrick that it is most probable that a US national has been abducted to North Korea ban in 2016 a South Korean organization that specializes in North Korean abductions said David have been kidnapped with the purchase of teaching English to Kim jong-un and other government officials there was also a man who claimed to have even more specific details Choi song Jung the head of Seoul's abductees family Union had information that asserted David had changed his name to Eun bong soo was now married to a woman named Kim ein hi and had two children but none of the Intel was independently corroborated so the American government never took action even when its own politicians wanted it to do so in June 2017 Senator Mike Lee and representative Chris Stewart from Utah sent a letter to President Trump urging him to look into North Korea's involvement in sneden's disappearance research from regional experts has uncovered disturbing parallels between David's disappearance and the known operational patterns of kidnapping of citizens from many countries it read so far the efforts haven't made on the State Department won't take any action until verifiable information exists still these students continue their search finding comfort in the thought that David might be helping an oppressed population if my son has a part in helping North Koreans have a normal life in any way I would just be thrilled said Kathleen if he by being there can bring attention to how North Korea is treating its people he would be most pleased