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In August of 2010, when the heat was so hot that the air above the sand shivered like coals, two sisters from Phoenix, 32-year-old Vera Witkim and 27-year-old Odet Winslow, set out on a 3-day hike in [music] the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.

Their goal was to photograph the sunrise at Weaver’s Needle, a place locals call the heart of the [music] curse.

Surveillance cameras captured their silver SUV in a parking lot off the Peralt Highway [music] at 8:30 in the morning.

At 9:15, Vera’s entry appeared [music] in the visitor log going to the Ravens Trail.

We’ll be back on Sunday.

No one saw them alive again.

Three years later, in November 2013, three cavers from Tucson stumbled upon an abandoned quarry a few miles from the tourist trails.

In a deep attit flooded and covered with a layer of dust, stood two metal barrels.

Inside, in [music] a thick technical liquid were two female bodies.

At the bottom of one of the barrels was a silver bracelet engraved with the letters OV.

and in the other was a stopped wristwatch, the hands of which were frozen at 3:47.

This is how the Superstition Mountains returned to the world what was taken from them.

But they did not say who put these women there and why.

In August [music] of 2010, the heat dried the stones of Superstition so [music] that they cracked underfoot.

The air stood still like a breath held, [music] and the smell of dust was thick with a bitter metal flavor.

That morning, the sisters from Phoenix, 32-year-old Vera Witkum and 27-year-old Odet Winslow, arrived at a parking lot off the Peralt Highway.

Vera was driving her silver Toyota 4Runner, and the engine shut off immediately as if it had sensed the heat.

They were to hike the trails to Weaver’s Needle  Spire for 3 days, photograph the sunrise, and return on Sunday.

In the visitors log, which lay on a wooden table under the canopy, there was a short entry in Vera’s [music] careful handwriting.

We are going on the Raven’s Trail.

We’ll be back on Sunday.

Expect incredible photos.

The time next to the signature is 9:00 15 minutes in the morning.

The ranger on duty would later recall that they seemed calm and well equipped, although the younger one, Odet, was acting uncertain, often asking about water and shade along the route.

Vera looked experienced with a professional camera and tripod over her shoulder.

The sun was high when they left the parking lot.

The surveillance cameras captured two figures in light colored clothing walking down the path leading toward Weaver’s Needle.

After that shot, the horizon is empty.

When they did not return on Sunday, Beer’s husband, Mark Witkim, was not initially [music] concerned.

Cell phone service in those parts is weak, and the sisters often stayed a day or two late.

But on Monday morning, he started [music] calling the park at dawn.

None of Vera’s numbers were answered.

At 9:00 in the morning, he arrived at the visitor center and [music] saw a familiar SUV covered in red dust.

The door was locked and inside there was a bottle of water, tourist maps, [music] and a charger.

It looked like they had just left and were about to return.

The Panol County search and rescue team began work that day.

A helicopter with a thermal imager soared over Perolt Canyon.

The air was shivering with heat and dust was kicking up in a cloud with every movement of the blades.

The first day yielded no results.

At dawn on the second day, the dogs lost their trail on a narrow mountain path leading to an abandoned quarry marked on old maps [music] as Flintstone.

It was there among the fragments of rocks that they found a broken Nikon camera [music] strap.

Mark recognized it as a wedding anniversary gift.

Rescuers [music] expanded the search radius to 10 m.

Patrols combed dry riverbeds, checked caves, gorges, even abandoned mines.

The weather was unbearable.

Daytime temperatures reached over 100° Fahrenheit, with nights only slightly cooler.

The water in the jerry cans was running out faster than the gasoline in the generators.

One of the rangers wrote in his report, “No signs of struggle, no belongings, as if the ground had swallowed them up.

” By the end of the week, more than [music] 40 people were involved in the search.

Volunteers, police, even a few local hunters.

The helicopters flew over the mountains again, but no heat signals [music] were detected.

On Friday, the dogs left the operation because their paws were burned [music] on stones.

The official version, voiced by the sheriff’s representative at a press conference on August [music] 22nd, sounded dry.

probably an accident, possibly a fall or overheating.

But journalists standing near the Peralt Highway wrote [music] differently about another disappearance in the Ghost Mountains.

Locals recalled old stories about Apache Gold and that [music] superstition only takes those who go there without permission.

A week later, the rescuers found another piece of evidence.

A camera lens lying at the bottom of a dried up creek bed half a [music] mile from where the trail disappeared.

The surface of the glass was cracked, but a thin strip of brown dried liquid remained on the focus ring.

The sample was sent for examination.

The laboratory report dated September 5th showed traces of human [music] blood.

Group unknown.

DNA could not be extracted due to overheating and dust.

After that, the work stopped.

The search was officially terminated on [music] September 27th.

The protocols were transferred to the archive as missing in action in the mountains.

At home in Phoenix, Mark Witam left his wife’s voice on his answering machine for a long time.

He told reporters, [music] “I don’t believe this is an accident.

Vera has never been wrong about her roots.

Someone was there.

The mountains were silent.

Only an old information stand near the Peralt Trail had their inscription on it, darkened by the sun, [music] but still visible.

Hiking the Raven’s Trail.

Here is a revised version of the chapter with a correction.

In November of 2013, [music] as the desert cooled after a long summer, a group of amateur cavers from Tucson [music] set out for the eastern slopes of superstition.

They were looking for abandoned mines that had been [music] rumored since the gold rush.

The group’s leader, Ray Clark, a 35-year-old energy company technician, would later say that they accidentally stumbled upon a narrow dirt path that was not marked on modern [music] maps.

It led deep into a rocky ravine with the remains of concrete pillars and a destroyed trolley track.

The quarry, once called the silver vein, looked dead.

narrow addents, warped beams, deep pits filled with muddy water.

The walls were covered with a layer of rust and the air smelled of metal and old lubricant.

According to Clark, they had walked several hundred yards when they heard a distinctive dripping sound and [music] spotted two large metal barrels in a remote tunnel covered with rusty rings.

Their lids were tightly nailed shut, [music] and the surface was covered with a thick layer of dust and salt crystals.

When Clark touched one of the barrels, it made a dull sound, as if something was heavy and dense inside.

His friend, [music] former firefighter Sam Blake, smelled a pungent odor, a mixture of oil, decay, and chemicals.

They decided not to open anything on [music] their own.

Clark called the Pineal County Sheriff’s Office and reported the discovery, giving them the coordinates.

Two sheriff’s deputies, a forensic scientist, and [music] a medic arrived at the scene.

According to the official report drawn up the same day, the first barrel was opened at about 16 hours [music] and 30 minutes.

The lid was lifted carefully to avoid leaking liquid.

Inside, immersed in a dark brown oily substance, [music] were human remains.

The body was bent like a spell.

The skin peeled off, but the fabric of the clothes remained [music] almost intact.

The colors were faded, but it was possible to distinguish a woman’s [music] cut.

Pants made of lightweight tourist material, a checked shirt, and boots for mountain hiking.

In the pocket, a thin silver bracelet with an engraving was found.

OV.

The second barrel was opened a few hours later.

Inside was another body [music] as if preserved in a thick liquid.

On the left wrist is a watch stopped at 3:00 47 minutes in the morning.

The fabric of the shirt bears the name of the manufacturer which coincided with the brand that according to the family was worn by the older sister Vera Witkim.

Later the forensic expert would state in his report the degree of preservation of the bodies does not correspond to the period of 3 years.

The viscous technical fluid prevented oxygen from entering and slowed down decomposition.

Only people with technical [music] knowledge can create such conditions.

Penal Sheriff Craig Nelson [music] gave a brief comment to local media.

His words were quoted by all Arizona TV channels.

We are not dealing with an accident.

This is not the elements.

Someone has deliberately done everything to ensure that [music] these women are never found.

The next day, the silver load quarry was cordoned off with yellow tape.

The work was coordinated by forensic scientists and technicians from the Phoenix Medical Examiner’s Office.

Two barrels, liquid samples, and rock fragments were removed from the mine.

A temporary laboratory was set up at the base of the mountains for testing [music] reports indicate that traces of lubricating oil and shoe prints that did not belong to the rescuers were found in the upper layers of soil.

The prints were blurred and unidentifiable, but the size was male, approximately a 43 on the American scale.

When the information about the discovery leaked to the press, journalists recalled the case of the Winslow and Witam sisters who disappeared in 2010.

The family arrived for identification 2 days later.

Mark Witam,  Vera’s husband, recognized his wife’s watch as a gift for their fifth year of marriage.

Odet’s sister was wearing a silver bracelet with her own initials found in the first barrel.

The identification was confirmed by dental records.

It was officially announced that [music] the remains belonged to the women who had disappeared 3 years earlier.

The case was reclassified from missing persons to double murder.

At a press conference held at the Pineel County Sheriff’s [music] Office, a department spokesman said, “We have indications that point to a planned act.

The quarry is not random.

[music] Whoever hid the bodies knew the area and had access to industrial facilities.

The journalists found old archival documents.

The Silver Vein Quarry belonged to a small construction company [music] that went bankrupt in 2005.

After the company closed, the property was taken over by a bank [music] and then sold at auction.

However, none of the owners were engaged in the development of the field.

The place remained [music] untouched, an ideal storage facility.

At the end of the month, an examination confirmed that the chemical in the barrels was old industrial lubricating oil with silica gel impurities.

There were no residues of documents, [music] fabric, or foreign objects other than the bodies.

The report of the medical department states, “The bodies were submerged after death.

The probable cause of death is mechanical asphyxiation or head injury.

The bones show no signs of animal damage or natural decay.

Only a few days have passed since the [music] barrels were opened, and the story has already become a major topic for all Arizona TV channels.

Reporters stood at the entrance to the canyon filming the collapsed beams and dark openings of the attit.

People brought flowers and photographs to the gate where a sign now hung.

The area is closed.

The investigation is ongoing.

The mountains were silent again, but this time their silence had the smell of oil and iron.

After the victim’s identities were officially confirmed, the case of the Winslow and Wickham sisters was transferred to the Pinal County [music] Major Crimes Unit.

The investigation was led by Detective Roger Delaney, a former Phoenix investigator known for his meticulousness and [music] penchant for technical details.

According to him, the primary task was to understand how two women who had disappeared on a hiking trail ended up preserved in barrels on the territory of a [music] former industrial facility.

Delaney started with documents.

The archive of the subsoil use department [music] showed that after the bankruptcy of the company that owned the silver vein in 2005, all assets, including the quarry, were transferred to the son of Arizona bank.

Two years later, the property was put up for auction, but the buyer refused to [music] develop it due to environmental restrictions.

In between these events, the quarry was illegally visited several times [music] by unauthorized persons, as evidenced by old police reports on metal thefts.

The area had been abandoned since then.

The detective ordered copies of old personnel [music] records.

There were more than 30 names on them, drivers, technicians, mechanics.

Most of them had moved away.

Some had already died.

However, five still lived in Arizona.

Among them was Luke Granger, a former mechanic [music] who had worked at the quarry for the last 2 years before it closed.

In the old records, his name was marked with a pen without comment.

At the same time, the detective took up the sister’s personal lives.

He met with Mark Witkum, who had moved to his mother’s house [music] in Phoenix after his wife’s funeral.

The man looked exhausted but agreed to testify.

It was then that he first [music] mentioned a phone conversation that Vera had had a few days before the hike.

According to him, she was sitting in the living room with Odette next to her.

Vera was telling someone on the phone that we need to clarify the route near Weaver’s Needle and that this person knows those places well.

Mark remembered [music] his wife saying after the call, “Everything will be fine.

I talked to a pro.

Back then in 2010, it didn’t seem suspicious, but now the detective noticed a detail.

Vera used a landline phone and call records were stored in the provider’s archive.

After a request, the company provided [music] a list of numbers for the last 2 weeks before she disappeared.

Among them, there was one that was repeated twice, a short call lasting [music] 7 minutes, and another one lasting almost 20 minutes.

The number was registered to a private individual in Phoenix, Luke Granger.

Delaney checked his background.

Open databases indicated [music] that Granger was born in the vicinity of Tucson, had a high school technical education, and had never been prosecuted.

After the closure of the Silver Mine, he [music] worked for several years in small auto repair shops, and since 2008, he has worked in the transportation department of the Sunrise Construction Company.

His professional description is disciplined, non-conlictual, and a jack of all trades.

In his official notes, the detective noted, “A person with technical skills familiar with industrial facilities has potential access to remote areas.

” It was then that a hypothesis arose that one of the former employees could have used the abandoned quarry, knowing its structure and underground passages.

Confirming the connection between Gringanger and the sisters was key.

The detective asked the analytical department to check the data of mobile operators to determine whether their routes intersected during the period of disappearance.

Although the signals from Vera and Odet’s phones disappeared on the first day of the hike, the records of Phoenix’s base stations were preserved.

And it turned out that in the morning of the [music] same day the sisters left the city, Grers’s phone was active in the same area.

near the highway.

They were heading [music] to parole.

Journalists did not know about this discovery at the time, but police reports stated, “The time coincides [music] within 1 hour.

There is no direct evidence of a meeting, but the probability of an accident is low.

” While analysts were checking other coincidences, Delaney turned to the archives of the bank that temporarily owned the quarry.

In the books, he found several receipts for equipment maintenance and security dated after the company’s bankruptcy.

One of them was signed by the same Granger as a contractor hired to repair [music] the generator.

It was a year after the quarry was officially closed.

The detective concluded that the person had keys to the territory and knew how to get to the underground addits.

The report of December 2013 states, “A possible connection between the victims and a former quarry worker has been established.

It is necessary to conduct interviews and [music] check the alibi.

The investigation was entering a phase when every detail of the past began to take on new meaning.

The quarry, which had been silent for decades, suddenly found itself [music] at the center of a crime.

And among the names that had been erased by the dust, one Luke Granger sounded especially clear now.

In early January of [music] 2014, Detective Roger Delaney met Luke Granger for the first time in [music] person.

He was 45 years old, a lean, trim man with a straight posture and shortcropped hair that was already graying at the temples.

At work, he was known as a meticulous mechanic who was never late, never drank, and never said too much.

His colleagues at Sunrise Construction [music] described him the same way.

A man who does his job and then just goes home.

He had no family and lived alone in a small house on the southern [music] edge of Mesa where he was seen mostly in the yard fixing up an old pickup truck.

Delaney arrived at the construction site of the Canyon View Plaza Shopping Center in Scottsdale where Granger was in charge of the equipment fleet.

According to eyewitnesses, he was not surprised to see the police, [music] but simply took off his gloves, wiped his hands with a cloth, and calmly [music] listened to the questions.

When asked to speak separately, he gave a short answer.

Sure, if you need to.

The conversation lasted about an hour in the cabin of an old trailer [music] that served as a temporary office.

Granger confirmed that he had indeed spoken to Vera Whitam on the phone a few days before she disappeared.

He said she had reached him through friends.

She knew he had worked in the Weaver’s Needle area and was wellversed in the roots there.

She wanted advice on how to approach the lookout [music] point safely.

Granger claimed to have given general advice.

Take extra water.

Avoid dry ravines.

Do not take shortcuts [music] leading to old mines.

That was the end of the conversation.

They say the interrogation report reads, “The interlocutor’s tone is calm.

His answers are clear.

He does not show emotions.

He repeated several times that he had not seen or heard the woman [music] after the call.

The detective asked about the events of that August [music] weekend when the sisters disappeared.

Granger gave a detailed answer.

According to him, he had been working 7 days a week that week [music] at the Canyon View Plaza Shopping Center.

The project was at a critical stage, [music] installation of ventilation systems and launch of generators.

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