Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Dillia Diambra, and I want you all to pay close attention to this

episode, because the case I'm going to tell you about today is a crime that I feel could literally

happen to any of us. It takes place near Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, which has been the

ancestral home of the Pueblo people for more than 700 years.

If you've ever visited this park, then you know just how unique the landscape is,

especially in areas where communities built structures directly into the cliffs of the park.

There's an example of what I'm referring to in the blog post for this episode, so check it out

if you need a visual.

Two areas closest to the park are Mancus and Cortez, Colorado.

Many visitors travel between those two areas along U.S. Highway 160 to make their way into the park.

And of course, like any highway, there are rest stops along that road.

One in particular became the epicenter of a terrible tragedy in the late summer of 1998.

A crime that's trail would eventually lead all the way to southern Idaho and the California coastline.

This is Park Predators. I'm I'm I'm

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I'm Around 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 16th, 1998, a California Highway Patrol officer named Richard Hedgecock noticed a 1991 dark gray Mazda pickup truck

driving erratically in Oceanside, California.

Richard was a 15-year veteran of the CHP and was used to conducting traffic enforcement

while patrolling on his motorcycle near the area's freeways.

It wasn't unusual for him to see a suspected drunk driver or even a tired driver in that area during nighttime hours.

And that scenario was exactly what Richard believed he was likely dealing with.

...