The Suitcase, the Boarding Pass, and the Name That Didn't Exist

The Suitcase, the Boarding Pass, and the Name That Didn't Exist

A deserted trail, a sealed boarding pass readable from four feet away, and a name-GARY ALAN DUPONT-that belonged to no one investigators could identify; could a cancelled flight and a meticulously placed suitcase be a coincidence, or was something else arranged with precision? The boarding pass was for Mesa Southwest flight 714 departing in seventeen minutes, yet that route had been cancelled weeks earlier-so who printed it, and why leave it for Darlene and her dog to find?

In this episode, we tell what happened the morning Darlene Schultz and her border collie Pepper discovered a suitcase on the Raymond Walker Trail, how the boarding pass transformed a lost-property call into an anomaly investigation, and what the airline records and witness accounts reveal about the one name no one could place. How did a cancelled flight number and an unfamiliar passenger name end up on that trail?

Person: Darlene Schultz Date: December 8, 2119 at 6:48 AM Location: Raymond Walker Trail, east of Merna, New Mexico Event: Suitcase found with boarding pass for Mesa Southwest flight 714 Flight: Mesa Southwest flight 714 (Merna to Albuquerque) - cancelled November 15

- The boarding pass was sealed in a clear plastic sleeve and readable from four feet away. - Darlene had lived in Merna for nineteen years and was fifty-three years old. - The Raymond Walker Trail had opened approximately November 27, eleven days before the find. - A shuttle driver, Tom Birkett, dropped a cash-paying passenger at the trailhead around 5:15 PM on December 7. - Paul Lindt had booked a round-trip ticket on October 3 with return on Mesa Southwest flight 714.

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