The Skeleton Key Chronicles

12 hours ago

October 5th marks 23 years since Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard lost their lives during what would become Treadwell’s final season living among the grizzly bears of Alaska’s Katmai National Park.

By then, Treadwell had been returning to Alaska for more than a decade, spending his summers observing the bears at remarkably close range and recording hundreds of hours of footage along the way. He recognized many of the bears, gave them names and built much of his adult life around advocating for their protection.

His approach was certainly unconventional. Treadwell lived among the bears without the usual physical barriers, filming their behavior and sometimes allowing them to come remarkably close. Over 13 summers, he documented mothers with their cubs, bears fishing during the salmon runs and countless hours of their behavior at close range. He eventually wrote a book about his experiences, spoke to schoolchildren about bears and even appeared on David Letterman.

Amie had accompanied Timothy to Alaska during previous summers, and she joined him again in 2003. She was an experienced outdoorswoman herself, although accounts from that season suggest she wasn't always as comfortable around the bears as Timothy had become, particularly when she was alone.
Timothy and Amie had actually left Katmai on September 26th and were preparing to head home when their plans changed.

Timothy wanted to go back for a few more days, and Amie agreed to return with him. After spending several days in Kodiak waiting for the weather to clear, they flew back to the area Timothy called the “Grizzly Maze” on September 29th.

They were scheduled to leave again on October 6th, but the day before their planned departure, the couple had a fatal encounter with a bear near their campsite. The following day, the pilot arriving to pick them up realized something was wrong and contacted authorities.

Timothy also left behind an enormous archive of footage from his years in Alaska. In 2005, filmmaker Werner Herzog used much of it to create Grizzly Man, allowing audiences to see the bears, the landscape and Timothy himself largely through the camera he had carried into Katmai year after year.

More than two decades later, those recordings remain an extraordinary look at the years Timothy spent living so close to Alaska’s grizzly bears, while his story continues to raise a much larger conversation about where the boundaries should exist between people and wildlife.

Timothy Treadwell
April 29, 1957 ~ October 5, 2003
Amie Huguenard
October 23, 1965 ~ October 5, 2003

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

17 hours ago

Update: Life without parole. Caleb Flynn found is guilty on all counts.

It’s sentencing day for Caleb Flynn. The former pastor and “American Idol” hopeful will be back in a Troy, Ohio courtroom this afternoon, less than a week after a jury found him guilty on all counts in the case involving his wife Ashley.

Caleb called 911 from the family’s Tipp City home back in February and claimed someone else had been inside. Ashley Flynn, 37, was found unresponsive in their bedroom, and just days later, Caleb was taken into custody.

But once the trial began, we learned just how much had been going on behind the scenes. A huge part of the prosecution’s case centered around 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, who testified that she first met Caleb while interning at his church. The two eventually became involved, and investigators later recovered more than 100,000 messages exchanged between them.

Caleb’s “American Idol” past even found its way into the trial in a way nobody really expected. Jurors heard songs he had created for Alleigha using an AI music app, with investigators saying they found the audio files on his phone along with lyrics saved in his notes.

Alleigha spent two days on the witness stand talking about their relationship and walking jurors through some of their conversations, including messages Caleb sent just hours before everything unfolded at the Flynn home. And whatever feelings she once had for him were clearly gone by then. When prosecutors asked how she felt about Caleb now, her answer was just three words. “I hate him.”

Last week, after hearing the case from both sides, the jury deliberated for just over two hours before finding Caleb guilty on all nine counts. His attorneys have already indicated that they plan to appeal.

Now it comes down to
sentencing. Caleb will appear before Judge Jeannine Pratt in Miami County Common Pleas Court at 3 p.m. today, and we’ll find out what his fate will be.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this one this afternoon.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

22 hours ago

Twenty-four-year-old Phoenix Phillips went to a Steelers game in Cleveland Thursday night and never made it home. He was reported missing the following morning, and his phone has since been located and turned over to police.

Phoenix and a friend had traveled to Cleveland from out of town, but sometime during the early morning hours Friday, the two apparently became separated. The friend later reported Phoenix missing, telling police he had last seen him around 6 a.m. October 2nd near West Superior Avenue and Robert Lockwood Jr. Drive.

There are still quite a few gaps in what happened that morning. A Cleveland police flyer gives 1444 W. 10th Street as Phoenix’s last known location, and authorities have said he is traveling on foot.

His family says disappearing like this is completely out of character for him, and they have since traveled to Ohio to help search. Police have also said there are concerning circumstances surrounding the case, although they haven't explained what those circumstances are.

One potentially important piece has already been recovered. Phoenix’s phone was found and turned over to police, but there has been no indication yet of where it was found or whether it has helped investigators determine where he may have gone.

Phoenix is 24 years old, 6'1" and approximately 170 pounds, with blue eyes. He was wearing a gray hoodie, beige pants and white tennis shoes when he disappeared.

Anyone with information that could help locate Phoenix Phillips is asked to contact Cleveland police.

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