A haunting last photo is all that his parents are left with.

The photo is a close-up shot of his face, set against a bleak, dark landscape.

He's alone, we think, he is lost, we believe, and he is very afraid.

How he vanished has never been solved.

He was a boy scout, aged 12, and he vanished into thin air.

He was with his Scout group on a hike, there one minute, gone the next.

It was July the 19th, 1991, and 12-year-old Jared Negret was on his first overnight camping trip

in the San Gorgorillo Wilderness of California,

in the south-eastern part of the San Bernardino National Forest, north of Beaumont and Banning.

An area, the LA Times calls a breathtaking ramble of rocks and dozens of trails, many of which meander to nowhere.

After Jared disappeared, a subsequent 19-day search for him

found only his camera, with that last haunting photo, and some candy wrappers. How could you

vanish in the middle of the wilderness? There was no road to leave by, no transport out of there,

no route out apart from a very long hike. His mother, Linda Negret,

said the hardest part is at night, knowing he's out there by himself in the wilderness.

His mother had called out to her son over a public address system for days from a helicopter

circling the search area. Associated press camera found as they followed footprints they believed made by Jared

Negrette. The film, in the 5'2-150-pound boy's camera, was developed, but proved to be of no

use to searches. All it had was the close-up of his face. The photo looked as though it was taken at night.

Associated Press said, a role of film in the camera showed at least seven photos

officials believe were taken after Jared was separated from his scalp troop. The picture was of the

boy at dusk, apparently taken by holding the camera out at arm's length.

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