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Nearly five years ago, a woman set out into the wilderness & never returned. Throughout her disappearance, there have been strange & eerie sightings reported since.
In July of 2020, 54-year-old Sandra Hughes told her family that she was planning on taking a solo camping trip in the Sierra National Forest to get away from the stress & craziness of the pandemic. Despite the fact that she was someone who was exceptionally experienced amongst the outdoors to the point that she considered herself a survivalist, Sandra seemingly vanished leaving a trail of strange clues that continue to baffle investigators. Despite these odd clues, there is still no sign of Sandra, now nearly five years after she vanished.
Sandra Johnson Hughes, known to her niece as Aunt Sandy, was born on July 26, 1966. Beginning from a young age, Sandra felt at home in nature & developed an avid love for the outdoors. Her passion was so strong that she went on to study wilderness survival in college with the goal of becoming a park ranger. However, Sandra’s career dreams hadn’t panned out as she had envisioned & instead, she went on to work as an accountant.
Throughout the years, Sandy went on to marry & divorce twice. She never had any children which allowed her the freedom to move about the country & explore the great outdoors as she pleased.
As 2020 arrived & the uncertainty of the pandemic began to spread, Sandy made the decision to leave her home in Maui, Hawaii in order to relocate to Madera County California where she would be near the beauty of Yosemite National Park & the Sierra National Forest.
As she settled into her new home, Sandy had been in California for six months when she decided to take a camping trip. As the pandemic raged on & the death toll continued to rise with travel bans still enforced, she figured it would be the perfect getaway. Her travels would be local, she could be within her happy place of the outdoors, within the fresh air, maintaining distance from others while hopefully remaining healthy, avoiding the threats of the current pandemic.
Before she set out, Sandy spoke with her family in Pennsylvania on June 26, 2020 to let them know that she was heading out on a camping & hiking trip in the Sierra National Forest. She elaborated that depending on how things went, she was also considering hiking to Yosemite.
Since she was heading out by herself into the wilderness, Sandy assured her family that she would check in with them when she was back home from her trip. She headed out that very day in her silver Saab that was loaded with her necessary camping gear & drove deep into the Sierra National Forest.
After driving for a little over an hour & fifteen minutes, Sandra reached Johnson Meadows, an isolated area that is spectacularly beautiful & offers dense forest with glimpses of snow capped mountains. Because the area is so remote, it’s not a location a camper would go unprepared as the rugged terrain was known for wildlife that included bears & cougars. Because Sandy was an experienced hiker, she would have set off into the wilderness with the appropriate supplies.
Six days after Sandy set off, it was July 2 when hikers were passing through Johnson Meadows & came upon an abandoned campsite which was later learned to belong to Sandy. They noted that the area was in utter disarray; her tent was destroyed, her belongings scattered across the ground. Her backpack was open with its contents spilled out & unopened cans of food, documents & other items were strewn about. The hikers were immediately concerned with the deserted,chaotic campsite so they went on to report their findings to the Madera County Sheriff’s Office once they were back within cell reception.
Later that day when authorities arrived to investigate the scene, they were able to identify that the campsite belonged to Sandy based on her IDs that were included in her belongings. Documents within a folder at the site included a birth certificate & social security card.
When authorities contacted her family members, they were immediately alarmed. They told authorities that Sandy was an experienced outdoorswoman who was not only meticulous & organized, but also environmentally conscious. She would have never voluntarily left her area in such a chaotic state & according to Sandy’s niece, Ashley Macus, even a piece of litter on the ground would bother her. The last they’d heard from Sandy was June 26, the same day that she set out on her trip. With this information, Sandy was officially declared missing & a search for her began.
Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, hundreds of search & rescue teams combed the surrounding landscape while utilizing helicopters & search dogs. The group included law enforcement officers, volunteers & the Air National Guard. Investigators interviewed nearby campers & hikers in hopes they had seen Sandy with her distinctive blue hair.
Since it was summertime & the height of the tourist season, Sandy’s family hung posters in nearby towns & businesses, hoping someone would see her.
On July 4, two days after hikers stumbled upon Sandy’s abandoned campsite & eight days after her family heard from her, hikers within Johnson Meadows came upon a woman who was barefoot & had visible bruising to her face. She had no gear with her, she stood calmly & didn’t appear to be in any distress so they carried on with their hike. When the hikers reached the trailhead, they noticed the missing persons flier with information about Sandy’s disappearance & realized that the barefoot woman they’d seen was her. After they contacted authorities regarding their sighting of Sandy, by the time authorities returned to the spot the hikers had seen her, she was nowhere in sight.
The following day on July 5, Sandy’s car was located five miles north of her campsite near Chiquito Creek at the bottom of a ravine that was situated next to a winding road. Based on what they saw, authorities theorized that her car rolled down the embankment after it struck a tree. Based on the damage, authorities believe the car was traveling at a slow speed of about 20 mph at the time of the collision. The car was damaged but investigators found no blood inside or other evidence that suggested that Sandy had been injured. However, as with her campsite, the items from the interior of her car had been pulled out & strewn across the forest floor in the vicinity around the car. This led investigators to wonder if Sandy suffered a head injury during the crash that caused her to be disoriented which would have prevented her from seeking help.
Sandy’s car was left at the bottom of the ravine where it was found so that if she came back to it, it would still be there. Authorities attached a notice to the car instructing Sandy to contact them & at the bottom, they also wrote that her family was worried about her.
On July 12, one week after Sandy’s car was located, searchers came across Sandy’s sleeping bag near Spotted Lake, 2.5 miles north of the ravine where her car was found. The area was very remote & inaccessible by trails or roads which suggested that it has been purposely & deliberately placed there. It also had the appearance of having been recently slept in. Beyond the sleeping bag, there were no other supplies which would have put Sandy in great danger because of the steep terrain as well as the bears & cougars that roamed this location. Extensive searches around this location showed no further signs of her.
A little under a month later, it was August 9 when two hunters were driving through an extremely remote forest road several miles east of Spotted Lake where Sandy’s sleeping bag had been located. They were surprised when they came upon a woman who stood alone within the trees, leaning against a tree along Road 5S01 near Beasor Road. The woman had no visible gear or supplies with her, she showed no sign of distress & made no attempt to flag the hunters down. After they stopped their car & attempted to get her attention, they decided to carry on after she didn’t react to their presence, making the assumption that she was a hiker who stopped for a quick rest.
Like the previous hikers, the men thought little of what they’d seen until they came upon a missing person flyer & recognized the woman in question as Sandy. They contacted authorities & indicated that the woman they’d seen matched Sandy’s description despite the fact that she looked visibly thinner than the photos posted. Sadly, further searches for this woman yielded no results & Sandy’s case went cold.
These sightings took place not far from areas that were burned during the massive Creek Fire that began over Labor Day weekend 2020 & was not fully contained until late December 2020. With this, the landscape has changed since the initial searches for Sandy which could be good or bad, according to investigators. Areas that may have been covered could now be exposed while debris could be shifted thus concealing evidence leading to Sandy.
A little less than one year after Sandy seemingly vanished within the wilderness of the Sierra National Forest, a family of five was making their way through the forest toward Shuteye Peak on their four-wheeler on July 21, 2021. The location was about five miles south of Johnson Meadows. Jake Gorba, his wife Victoria & their three young children were halfway up the mountain on their off-road vehicle when they noticed a gorgeous meadow that would be the perfect spot for a picnic. They decided to stop & while Jake & Victoria gathered the items they would need for lunch, they heard their 3-year-old son Kaiden talking to someone outside the car window.
Jake & Victoria asked Kaiden who he was talking to & they were chilled when he told them that there was a woman out there who needed their help. When the couple looked in the direction of the meadow where their son pointed, there was no sign of anyone. Kadyn insisted that this woman needed their help & elaborated that she was laying face down with her legs straight up. He told his parents that the woman was unable to speak or move & Victoria got goosebumps up her body as Kaiden elaborated that the woman was dead.
Jake & Victoria were understandably alarmed by what their young son had potentially seen & began searching the area, but found no one despite the fact that Kaiden insisted that he was sure of what he saw. So bothered by what their son shared, they decided to end their trip early & head home. As the day wound down, Victoria remained unsettled & decided to post about it on Facebook. The following day, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office reached out to the couple via Facebook for more information after they were alerted to her post.
When authorities met with the Gorba family, Kaiden indicated that the woman he’d seen had blue hair & wore a black shirt & blue jeans. This matched Sandy’s exact appearance when she was last seen. Investigators showed Kaiden a series of photos & he identified Sandra as being the woman he’d seen who needed help in three of the four images.
Two Madera County Sheriff’s Deputies went back to the meadow in question with Jake & Kaiden to further investigate & an extensive search of the area found no evidence of Sandy’s presence.
Victoria was left to wonder if her son had seen a ghost looking for help that day & hoped that they could’ve helped Sandy’s family locate her for a sense of closure.
To this day, Sandy remains classified as Lost/Injured Missing & authorities continue to assume that she’s alive until evidence proves otherwise. Because witnesses who reported seeing Sandy described her as calm & exhibiting no signs of distress, paired with the fact that Sandy was experienced in sustaining herself in the wilderness, they will continue to search for her. However as time has continued to pass without any recent sightings of Sandy, the hope of her still being alive has dwindled.
At the time of her disappearance Sandy was 5’3” & usually weighed about 150# with wavy brown hair that had been dyed blue & brown eyes. Based on the sighting of Sandy in August 2020, she may have lost a significant amount of weight.
2025 marks 5 years since Sandy vanished. Her case has left authorities puzzled & many unanswered questions remain. Why was her campsite found abandoned & in disarray, why was her car discovered down an embankment with its contents strewn about the forest floor? Was there foul play or did she succumb to the elements or wildlife? Why did 3-year-old Kaiden report seeing a dead woman with blue hair who needed their help?
Because Sandy had not asked for assistance when witnesses unknowingly saw the missing woman out on the trails, it gave the impression that she did not want to be found or helped. Investigators have no way of knowing what her frame of mind was as she walked through the woods & it’s unclear if she suffered a head injury from the car accident.
If you have any information about Sandra Johnson Hughes, please contact the Madera County Sheriff’s Office at 559-675-7770. Investigators request that if you come across a potential clue to contact the department & drop a pin on the GPS app on your phone so deputies can search the appropriate area.
References:
- Mariposa Gazette: Three years missing – Mystery of woman who vanished remains & ongoing investigation
- Medium: The mysterious disappearance of Sandra Johnson Hughes?
- Medium: Sandra Hughes went into the woods & never came back
- Fox 26 News: Sheriff investigates ghost-like sighting in Madera County Mountains
- Fox 26 News: Special Report: The latest on the search for a woman who went missing 3 years ago
- Sierra News Online: Search still on for camper missing in Sierra National Forest
- Strange Outdoors: The Sandra Johnson Hughes disappearance in Sierra National Forest
- Fox 28 Savannah: Search continues for missing California woman last seen 3 years ago
- YouTube: MrBallen: Blue haired woman TERRIFIES authorities
