When a well-known mycologist disappears while on a routine mushroom foraging trip,

a search and rescue mission is launched in the Washington Woodlands.

After it becomes apparent that she's nowhere to be found,

investigators consider the possibility of foul play in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

Music Alive. Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day and true crime storyteller by night.

I'm your co-host, Scott.

Dr. Hildegard Hendrickson was last seen alive on June 8th, 2013.

But the story of how she got to the place she disappeared from,

the forested Pacific Northwest,

begins long before then in World War II era Europe.

World War II era Europe.

Yes. Hildegard, who was far more active than most individuals of her age, was 79 at the time of her disappearance.

Nearly 80 years before, she'd been born in Yugoslavia and had then been raised in Hungary.

Like many Europeans, though, her family was displaced by the Second World War.

They ended up settling in Austria, and that was where Hildegard

meant her husband, Monty, who was an American soldier. Hildegard eventually immigrated to the U.S.

not only for love, but also for the sake of her education. She excelled academically and earned a

bachelor's degree, an MBA, and a doctorate at the University of Washington.

This is impressive.

The MBA, not enough, had to go and get the doctorate.

Afterwards, she worked as a professor of finance and economics at Seattle University for decades,

...