Finding David Sneddon
 Background |
||||||||||||
|
David Sneddon is a student at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. BYU is a religious university, owned and administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Church of Jesus Christ"). David was taught and lives by the teachings of Jesus Christ. (For a more detailed explanation of David's core beliefs and values, see Appendix A on "David Sneddon's Core Beliefs and Values".) David took a two-year leave of absence from his university studies to serve a voluntary religious mission in South Korea for the Church of Jesus Christ. He learned to speak Korean fluently, and upon returning home, decided to continue studying languages. He chose to major in Chinese, with a minor in Korean.
As part of his studies, he lived in the Chinese House on the BYU campus. BYU has several language "houses." These are separate apartments for men and women in which students live for one or two semesters with others who speak only the designated language, including a head resident who is a native speaker of that language. This experience improved David's ability to speak Mandarin Chinese beyond the normal university classroom experience. David enjoyed his experience in the Chinese house so much that he planned to live in the Spanish House in the fall semester of 2004.
David had a goal to finish his degree at BYU by spring 2005. He wanted to work one year before starting graduate school in the fall of 2006, studying law and business administration. To earn sufficient credits to graduate on time, David decided to further his study of Mandarin in Beijing in the summer of 2004. Although David had previously worked as a missionary in Korea, his trip to China was purely for educational purposes.
Based on his family background, it was not unusual that David Sneddon would choose to study in Beijing and then travel alone in China. Most of David's siblings served two-year religious missions in other nations, including Germany, Japan, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. Several siblings have studied abroad, one brother worked in Japan for five years, and his mother has taught English to international students for seventeen years.1
Furthermore, David had worked in Asia the previous summer. David's older brother, Michael, is president and principal owner of MultiLing Corporation, a language translation company. While a student at BYU, David worked as a part-time employee for MultiLing. During the summer of 2003, MultiLing sent David to Seoul, South Korea, where he worked alone as a full-time employee, researching the market for translation in Korea and soliciting customers.
Before leaving in April 2004 for his summer classes in Beijing, David and his brother Michael made plans to meet in Seoul, South Korea at the end of the summer. They scheduled two days of business meetings with potential customers to be held in Seoul on August 26 and 27.2 In exchange, MultiLing paid half of David's airfare to Asia.
David planned to attend summer school in Beijing and then spend part of August traveling through China. He would then meet his brother in South Korea before returning to the United States. David also made plans to return to BYU in the fall of 2004 to complete his undergraduate education. He paid a down payment for his student housing for the fall semester and scheduled to take the LSAT, a test that is a requirement for attending law school.
Map 1 — China
On April 25, 2004, David Sneddon arrived in China to study in the Department of Chinese Languages at Beijing's University of International Relations.3 From the time of his arrival in Beijing to his completion of summer classes, David kept in contact with his family, friends, and business associates via e-mail. David's roommate in Beijing was George Bailey, a fellow BYU student.
Even before arriving in Beijing, David began preparing for a trip through China. During the summer, David continued his planning and encouraged George to join him for sightseeing throughout Western and Southern China. David had time for nearly three weeks of sightseeing. George's return flight to the United States was earlier than David's, so he planned to accompany David on only the first part of his journey. According to George, for over five weeks David reviewed different itineraries, places of interest, and means of travel, using the Lonely Planet China as his guide. Just before completing his classes the first week of August, David finalized his itinerary and purchased his plane and train tickets.
David discussed his plans in an e-mail message that he sent to his mother Kathleen on August 3:
"Things are going well here. I did well on all my exams and today is my last day of school. I am SO excited to go travel. I will go to Guilin-Kunming-Hainandao-Guangdong-Anhui. I will go to lots of places with really neat-sounding names, like Tiger-Leaping Gorge and Jade Dragon Pool." 4
The school issued David a certificate of completion dated August 6, 2004 and mailed the certificate to David's parents.
It is of interest to note that during David's stay in Beijing, Justin Richmond, a friend of David's who served with him as a missionary in South Korea, was also studying in China. Justin studied at Yangian University in Yangi, a city near the North Korean border.5 Justin is an undergraduate student at Duke University and received a research grant through the Institute for Asian Pacific Studies. While in China, Justin was studying Korean minorities living along the Chinese border with North Korea. He also attempted to do research in North Korea but was denied the entrance visa and could not enter. For reasons that are not clear to Justin, he was told by the university to leave. Justin needed to leave China and stayed with David in Beijing for five days before finding a flight home to the United States.
On August 5, David Sneddon and George Bailey checked out of their dormitory room and left most of their belongings with a friend. David and George were "trekkers," traveling light and carrying a backpack of necessities as they traveled from youth hostel to youth hostel by bus, train, or on foot.6 On August 5, they took a night train and traveled for 27 hours to Guilin. On August 9, the two separated as they had planned when George took a different route, traveled north to Zibo in Shangdong province, and later returned to Beijing.
According to George, David continued traveling alone toward the Yunnan province. The Yunnan Province is located in the Southwest part of China, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Burma. Neighboring provinces include Sichuan and Xizang (Tibet). Most of the estimated population of 45 million persons consists of ethnic minorities such as Naxi, Yi, and Tibetan, many of whom live in remote, rural areas. The province's economy is based primarily on agriculture and tourism.
On Wednesday morning, August 11, 2004, David sent the following e-mail message to his mother, Kathleen Sneddon:
"I won't go into detail since I plan to write a much longer, detailed email to everyone [family] about this [trip]. I'm in Lijiang now in western Yunnan province. I will take a bus to hike Tiger Leaping George [sic] in about half an hour . . . . I am having a great time hear [sic] but nonetheless am excited to come home." 7
David's family, friends, and business associates did not receive further communication from him. At first, a lapse in communication was expected, as he was traveling in a remote area. However, we all became increasingly concerned as the days passed and we did not hear from David. Michael Sneddon, who was scheduled to meet David in Seoul, South Korea, was especially uneasy as weeks passed and David still had not e-mailed or phoned to confirm their plans.
When David missed his business meeting in Seoul, scheduled for August 26, 2004, his parents, Roy and Kathleen Sneddon, alerted U.S. authorities. David's parents contacted the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which alerted local Chinese officials.
As the days passed there was no further contact from David. Bank records show that he has not withdrawn any funds from his bank account since August 5, 2004. The last amount withdrawn was 300 U.S. dollars. With the exchange rate and purchasing power in rural China, this was enough for David to travel only a few weeks, staying at inexpensive youth hostels, sleeping on planes and trains, taking a few bus trips, and eating frugally.
In his last e-mail to his mother, David mentioned Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge, so the Embassy began coordinating search efforts with police agencies in the Diqing and Lijiang prefectures that form the two sides of Tiger Leaping Gorge. Because the "High Trail" taken by trekkers begins in Qiaotou, a small village located 2 ½ hours north of Lijiang, search efforts began there. Police placed missing person posters in prominent locations in Qiaotou and in hostels located along the "High Trail." 8
Map 2 — Yunnan Province
The Qiaotou police found David's large backpack at Jane's Guest House, a youth hostel located a few hundred yards before the entrance gate and ticket booth for the High Trail through the Gorge. U.S. Embassy staff inventoried the backpack. Its contents included clothing, undeveloped film, and airline tickets. The backpack's detachable "fanny pack" was missing. From this evidence, we concluded that David left his large backpack at the guest house on August 10th, planning to retrieve it after hiking through the gorge, carrying only his small "fanny pack" with him.
The airline tickets show that David planned to fly on August 15th at 10:15 PM from Kunming to Haiko and then take another flight on August 21st at 7:45 AM from Guangzhou, Guangdong province to Hefei, Anhui province. The date of the first airline ticket indicates that David had to leave Lijiang by bus the morning of August 15th to arrive on time in Kunming for his evening flight. Therefore, David planned to travel with his fanny pack no more than three to four days before stopping briefly to retrieve his large backpack in Qiaotou and continuing to Lijiang.9
Through telephone and e-mail conversations, it became clear to the Sneddon family that Chinese authorities and U.S. State Department officials had concluded that David Sneddon had likely lost his way while hiking through the gorge and died in a fall or by drowning in the Jinshajiang River, a branch of the Yangtz River. However, because of David's extensive backpacking experience (16 years), the family did not share this point of view. David, an Eagle Scout and expert backpacker, was well trained in hiking through difficult terrain and wilderness areas.10
On Friday September 3, 2004, we (Roy Sneddon and two sons, Michael and James), began plans to travel to China's Yunnan Province and search for David. We prepared for the trip as we would for any backpacking trip, selecting normal gear, except we lightened our load by not taking stoves and freeze-dried food. Our research indicated that we would be traveling in populated area in which we could purchase meals and probably lodging. As a family, we already owned most of the necessary equipment and were familiar with the requirements of backpacking in high country wilderness areas. We located the most recent photo of David that we could find, a black and white photo that was included on the certificate of completion that the Beijing University of International Relations had sent home to his parents. We used this photo to create several placards, or signs, to wear during our search. The placards included the words "Missing Trekker" in English and in Mandarin.
After completing our preparations, we left the United States on Thursday, September 9. We arrived at Kunming International Airport Friday night, September 10, where we met Mr. Gavin Sundwall and Ms. Anny Ho of the U.S. Embassy, and our native Chinese interpreter, Mr. Charlie Chen. Saturday all of us flew to Lijiang, where Mr. Sundwall introduced us to Mr. Kevin Xi, our Foreign Affairs Officer, and to police officers from the Lijiang prefecture. On Sunday, September 12, we drove 2½ hours to the Qiaotou police station, where we met with police officers from the Diqing prefecture. The Embassy officials returned to Beijing that afternoon.
The U.S. Embassy staff had developed the film found in David's backpack. The photos included recent shots of David, his roommate George, and landscapes captured on film during their travels in China. After examining these photos, considering the contents of David's backpack, and interviewing George Bailey over the phone, we had a good idea of the articles of clothing David wore when he left to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge. We concluded that David carried only a small load in his fanny pack, including a toothbrush, a Book of Mormon,11 and a Lonely Planet China.
To help us with identification purposes, we also selected four photos of David that were developed from the film found in his backpack. After we returned from China, George Bailey viewed the photos and confirmed that he took them on August 7 and 8 while David and he were in Yangshuo. Therefore, we have established that these are the most recent known photos of David, taken soon before his departure for Lijiang on August 9. We liked these more recent photos of David better than the photo on our placard, which was a bit distorted after increasing its size and not a good likeness of David. Furthermore, the more recent photos showed David wearing the same type of clothing he was wearing during his travels.12
We hired a Tibetan guide named Sean, who works in the area and owns a guest house in Walnut Grove, located 22 kilometers from Qiaotou and on a paved section of the road that goes through Tiger Leaping Gorge. Sean has over twenty years experience as a guide and leader of expeditions. He also has extensive inter-personal and extended family connections along the entire loop from Qiaotou, through the gorge, Haba, Shangri-La (formerly Zhongdian), and back to Qiaotou. Wearing our "Missing Trekker" placards bearing David's picture with captions in Mandarin, the five of us (the three Sneddons, our interpreter, and our Tibetan guide) set out from Qiaotou on Monday, September 13, 2004, hiking along the High Trail through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. We planned a journey of at least four to five days to trace David's route and gain information regarding his disappearance.
__________________________
1. David's family has a strong tradition for higher education. His mother has an M.A. and his father has a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics (Civil Engineering). Of David's 10 siblings, there is one Ph.D., two M.A.'s, two MBA's, one Juris Doctor, and eight Bachelor's degrees.
2. E-mail sent to K. Sneddon on 6 April 2004. See Appendix C: Sample E-mails from David Sneddon.
3. This date conflicts with the date David wrote in his e-mail dated April 6, 2004. Classes began on April 28, 2004. David must have made a mistake when he wrote to his mother to explain his summer plans.
4. E-mail sent to K. Sneddon on 3 August 2004. See Appendix C: Sample E-mails from David Sneddon.
5. Yangi is approximately 25 kilometers from border with North Korea. See Map 6, Appendix F: Maps.
6. See Appendix H: The Culture of Trekking.
7. E-mail sent to K. Sneddon on 5 August 2004. See Appendix C: Sample E-mails from David Sneddon.
8. Note that the "Low Trail," which lies close to the river, is now a paved road. See Map 4, Appendix F. For a picture of a missing person poster placed on the "High Trail," see Appendix E: Selected Photographs from Our Journey.
9. See Appendix B: Details of David's Trip and Itinerary.
10. David first went backpacking with his family at age six in the Wind River mountain range of Wyoming, USA. Backpacking is a Sneddon family tradition that they have enjoyed together nearly every year for over thirty years.
11. The Book of Mormon is a set of religious scriptures and like the Bible is another testament of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. It is a part of David's religious beliefs to study the scriptures daily .
12. See Appendix D: The Three Recent Photos of David Sneddon to examine photos we used to verify sightings and Appendix E: Selected Photographs from Our Journey, for a photo of our placard.