The mysterious disappearance of Sandra Hughes
It’s undoubtedly disturbing how many people have mysteriously disappeared while on what were supposed to be just fun, leisurely holidays. However, when the 54-year-old Sandra Hughes told her family in June 2020 that she was going hiking, they had no obvious reason to worry. ‘Sandy’, as she was affectionately nicknamed, had long loved the outdoors and was a highly experienced camper.
Her next trip was to the vast Sierra National Forest in California’s Madera County. So, after she failed to check in with her family when she said she would, alarm bells started ringing.
The search for Sandy soon took an eerie turn - with even an element of the paranormal, as we at Crime+Investigation were chilled to learn.
The early life of Sandra Hughes
Many people who go travelling can potentially be naive about risks they face in the process. In 2025, renewed attention was brought to the case of Amy Lynn Bradley, who lacked experience with cruise ships before disappearing from one in 1998.
However, while Amy was only 23, Sandy had much more life experience at the time of her own vanishing act. While at college, she had trained to become a park ranger.
She had been married twice by the time she was in her fifties. As neither of Sandy’s marriages produced children, she was free to move from one part of the country to another as and when she chose. Indeed, by 2020, she had recently relocated from Hawaii to California, where she would have plenty of enchanting wilderness to explore.
Some unsettling discoveries in the forest
On 26th June 2020, Sandy revealed to her family that she was set to embark on a solo camping trip. The timing seemed ideal. Just a few months earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the global COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
As COVID-19 would have been harder to catch outdoors than indoors, the trip must have seemed a safe bet. At least, that was until early July, when Ashley Macus - a niece of Sandy’s - got a worrying call from the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.
Macus heard that, on 2nd July, hikers had stumbled upon her aunt’s abandoned campsite in the forest. Personal documents belonging to Hughes were found in the area. These included contact details enabling authorities to reach out to her family.
Soon afterwards, officials came across Sandy’s silver Saab car near the Chiquito Creek trailhead. The vehicle appeared to have crashed into a tree before rolling into a gulley. Judging from the discernible damage to the car, it had been moving at less than 20mph upon collision.
Bizarre sightings are reported
‘Missing person’ signs with Sandy’s photos soon went up. She was described as 5 feet 3 inches tall with brown eyes. Her hair was naturally brown, but she was known to have dyed it blue shortly before heading to the Sierra National Forest.
In the weeks after her mysterious disappearance, Sandy was reportedly spotted twice, albeit by people who initially did not know who she was. Sandy was apparently seen walking barefoot with a bruised face on 4th July. Two hunters are also said to have noticed a woman leaning against a tree near Chiquito Creek in early August.
In both stories, the woman was not receptive to onlookers’ offers of help. After seeing Sandy’s photos, the hunters expressed conviction that this was the same woman they had witnessed earlier. However, they also claimed she had appeared skinnier than in the photos.
One theory is that Sandy had become disoriented, leaving her incapable of realising she needed help. This dissociative state is thought to have potentially resulted from her alleged car accident.
Did a little boy see Sandy’s ghost?
In July 2021, the Gorba family were driving through the Madera County Mountains. Jake Gorba, his wife Victoria and their children were heading to Shuteye Peak when they decided to stop for lunch.
When they did, though, the couple’s three-year-old son Kaiden insisted he could see a woman lying face down in a nearby meadow. His parents investigated the area but failed to find a body. However, Kaiden’s description of the woman spookily matched that of Sandy.
Deputies from the Madera County Sheriff’s Office subsequently searched the meadow themselves. This effort proved fruitless, and Sandra Hughes remains a missing person to this day.
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