Status: Untraced - E1: The Razor's Edge

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1:39After some solitude in the caves at 10 ,000 feet in the Indian Himalaya, I made my way down to the sacred hot springs of Kirganga, where I could warm my bones and watch the sunrise. One morning, I was walking by the smoky stone hut of a Naga Baba, a type of Hindu holy man. He had been watching me come down the mountain, and he waved me inside. Over the next two weeks, we became friends. I think.

2:12This is a blog post, uploaded on August 18th, 2016, by a 36-year-old spirited adventurer named Justin Alexander Shetler. He invited me along on his pilgrimage. Three days hard trek to a lake at 13 ,000 feet, and then 10 days meditating in a place without vegetation or wood to burn. Then three days back to a small village. I've been cold, feeling a bit malnourished. I think that this is going to be a challenge on every level, and I'm nervous. Justin is no ordinary tourist. He's a wilderness survival and this trek should have been of no challenge to him. He speaks no English besides good and yoga, and I'm not totally sure why I was invited.

3:05He follows a strict spiritual routine that I know nothing about, but I really don't know what to expect. Not long after this post, Justin Alexander disappeared.

3:22I've spent the past four years tracking Justin's movements and his life. I've spoken with friends and family who believe they know what happened to Justin. And I've heard all kinds of theories. But the thing is, I found something that no one else has. Something that was supposed to be impossible to find. Something that led me 7 ,000 miles away from home to a dangerous predicament. There's a rumor that this couple was robbed for 6 ,000 rupees at knife point. Yeah, by four guys. By four guys on the way to Kierganga. Yeah. I'm in a remote part of India, notorious for murders. And I've just learned a couple was robbed at Knife Point on the same trail where Justin was last seen.

4:07If we're doing this Kierganga trek, would it be beneficial to have Alex and me walk slightly ahead of you guys, see if we can catch these guys? I think we should bait them. What do you think? Yeah, I don't want to get stabbed. Yeah, I don't want to get stabbed either, but... I mean, I think we have to do this. Four years ago, if he had told me I'd be risking my life, let alone leaving the country to look for someone I've never met, I wouldn't have believed you. But that changed when I read Justin's final blog post. Because he signed it with a message. One that completely alters the understanding of his case.

4:48In his own words, he said, I should return mid-September or so. If I'm not back by then, don't look for me.

5:11Sometimes I get the feeling I'm lost Just hiding, man, it's never enough Now I find that in every mirror I go Only once I saw the killer Once I saw the killer I close I'm Liam Luxon, and this is Status Untraced. Episode 1, The Razor's Edge.

5:59Justin Alexander, who the hell are you? You're a travel blogger, is that what you said earlier? Well, no, I mean, I do have a blog, but over the last year and a half, I think I've posted three times, so I'm not a travel blogger by any means. This is Justin Alexander in 2015 on the Tangentially Speaking podcast. I just kind of used it as a space along with social media to share who I am and what I'm doing with people that might be interested. So when people ask what I do, I generally say I'm just a nomadic world traveler guy. I sold everything I own and quit conventional life when I was 32. I found out about Justin and his disappearance in a bit of a strange way.

6:40In my mid-20s, I found myself in L.A. feeling, and I bet you've never heard this before, unfulfilled. It was by chance that I was at a random house party, and I met this guy named Alex. We got to talking, and I was telling him about what I wanted out of life. More adventure. He told me that I should check out Adventures of Justin on Instagram. So when I went home, I did. Then I couldn't stop.

7:10Since I was a teenager, I used to just dress in black and try and see if I could sneak through rooftops climbing on the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge. I decided I wanted to go live on a sailboat and explore some uninhabited islands. I actually became the monk on January 1st of 2007. I do get stabbed in Thailand. Justin's Instagram was incredible. This man had trekked the Himalayas in flip-flops, spearfished on remote islands, and tracked wolves on the Great Plains. His adventures were captioned with the motto, Be kind and do epic shit. He had a pretty strong following, and by the looks of it, his lifestyle lit a fire in people, including myself.

7:54You see, I grew up a weird homeschooled kid, constantly feeling out of place. In my early teens, I found solace running through the woods and daydreaming about traveling to exotic worlds. I had that feeling of wanting to be a part of something bigger than myself, and I saw that in Justin too. He was living a life I only dreamt of.

8:43this, and I feel like my life is about walking that razor's edge.

8:51Like Justin said, he decided to retire at age 32. But it was more than that. He was going to travel the world indefinitely. May 19th, 2013, he announced the decision on his blog, saying, so this week I retired, and I'm in the process of selling everything I own, save a Royal Enfield motorcycle, my computer, phone, a change of clothes, a passport, toiletries, and credit card, which all fit into a backpack smaller than a school bag. So let's take this back. What were you doing before? What did you retire from? 2009, a friend and I started a technology company, did anti-counterfeiting, tracking, and marketing for luxury goods.

9:36And I wasn't really proud of who I was or what I was doing. I didn't think it was very cool. None of my heroes are tech entrepreneurs. They're all adventurers. So the company did well enough that I was able to step back and still have a passive income coming from my ownership position. Before becoming a world traveler, Justin trained in the art of survival. When he was 15, he left public high school to enroll into an alternative education program called Wilderness Awareness School. He learned how to build winter-resistant shelters from foliage, and he could even observe birds, listen to their calls, and locate predators and food.

10:15But he didn't stop there. He went on to master urban survival as well. He trained with marines and learned methods to escape and withstand torture. I mean, the guy had the skills to survive anything, which makes everything about his disappearance all the more suspicious.

10:39Justin Alexander Shetler is missing. He left with a local holy man on or about the 24th of August. What you're hearing is a GoFundMe post written by Justin's mother. She was seeking help to fund a search for Justin, who was last seen in a northern part of India called the Parvati Valley. It was here he met a baba, a holy man, who invited him on a trek into the mountains to a sacred ground. He's not been seen since September 3rd, when he was photographed with some hikers while returning from his trek. Justin was on his way down. He had separated from the Baba, with whom he had trekked up the mountain.

11:20He refused an invitation to join the hikers, saying that he wanted to get back to his things and to a good source of internet where he could edit his latest video and rest. He never made it. The Baba and a porter, someone who carries camping supplies, returned safely from the trek. Neither reported Justin as missing. A month later, growing restless, Justin's mom and a friend flew to the Parvati. Upon their arrival, the Baba was detained and interrogated. He changes his story every time the authorities talk to him. I know something is wrong with my son. The porter, who was also questioned, was released due to lack of suspicion.

12:07So all focus was zeroed in on the Baba, a decrepit man whose story was said to shift with each telling. With no evidence against him, police couldn't continue to hold him in custody, and he was set to be released. But just three days before his freedom, everything took a turn. The Baba has been reported to have committed suicide while in custody. He used his doughty, a local garment, to hang himself. Police found the man hanging and tried to resuscitate without success. Per reports, the only guard on duty that night had stepped out for five minutes. There were no witnesses. Quoted by the Portland Tribune, Justin's mom said, There have been 15 people who have gone missing in that valley since 1998, and they were all like Justin, experienced and trained in survival.

13:07None of them have been found, except the ones who are found dead. That valley is beautiful and enchanting, but it's very dangerous. Nefarious things happen there.

13:26Reading these posts, something didn't sit right. I found myself questioning if this Baba was a killer, then why'd he do it? What would be the motive? Unfortunately, all hope to find anything new about Justin seemed to die with the Baba. And the Adventures of Justin Facebook page, which previously was a flurry of case information and theories, turned into a place of remembrance. It is hard to see such a bright young light pass from this world. He will continue to inspire. He was completely fearless. This is a big loss. I lit a candle for Justin with a prayer that he finds his way back home soon.

14:06I still hope and pray for you, Justin Alexander. Questions on his Instagram were left unanswered. A Celebration of Life event was organized. And although there really wasn't closure, life moved on.

14:28By the time I was reading all these posts, Justin had been missing for four years. People seemed to think he met his demise in India, but I kept going back to that final message from Justin himself. I should return mid-September or so. If I'm not back by then, don't look for me. Was this a code? A secret message from Justin? Could this disappearance have been planned? What actually happened? It had been a week since Alex told me to check out Justin Alexander, and I was still hooked. I knew Alex said he did investigative journalism and was curious if he had thought about digging into Justin's disappearance for his next podcast.

15:15Although we didn't really know each other, I gave him a call and asked. To no surprise, he had, but had been looking for a partner. I had no clue where to start, but I offered myself up for the position anyways. And before I could wrap my head around it, our investigation had started.

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17:2110 a.m. to noon Tuesday Street. We haven't got it. Do you generally take notes when this shit's happening or should we just do it all? No, let's just talk. Yeah. I'm across the street from The Anchor, a laid-back seafood restaurant in Venice, California, with Alex. And I'm walking into something I've never done before. Hey, Jake. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good today. How are you? Good. Nice to see you. Very nice to see you. I'm Liam, by the way. Jason. Very nice to meet you. This is Jason Schultz. I got to know Jason over the course of making this podcast. But meeting for the first time?

18:01I'm nervous. Because I've never met someone whose friend disappeared. I actually was shocked in looking back at all this. This whole story that I'm telling you takes place between pretty much late 2013 and Justin's Gone From This World in 2016, which if you asked me how long we were friends, I'd have completely overestimated. And so I didn't realize that we'd grown so close in such a short period of time. And I was kind of reflecting it, wow, he's been gone longer than I knew him. We settle down at a wooden picnic table, order a round of beers, and Jason explains that he first met Justin through mutual friends.

18:42The stories that I pulled out of him were insane. Like, there was this story where someone had gotten injured in the mountains, and he like picked this person up and carried them back to their village. And I'm like, what is this? who's this guy? You know, like, this sounds like fiction. Jason shares endless stories of his memories with Justin, from camping trips in the desert and weekends hanging in California. He says their time spent together was sporadic, just moments here and there, but they grew close. The conversation drifts towards talking about Justin's lifestyle, and I asked Jason if he ever felt worried about him.

19:21I worried about Justin in January of 2016. It sounded like he was having some financial issues. And I used to ask him like, hey man, how do you never run out of money? And he would say, well, I got some residual income that comes in from the work that I'd done. But I know that he was struggling financially. And I reached out and I said like, hey, if you need some money or something, I'm good to help you out. And he said no. He said that he had some cash and he said he has an expertise at being broke and that he was okay. But that's when I worried about it. That's when I had some worries. There are stories from that part of the world where they'll say like, oh, the person didn't come back because they didn't want to come back.

20:12We had plans. He wanted to come to L.A. in October or November, and his plan was to get a 10-year Indian visa and then go back to India. and I texted him. And I was like, hey man, where are you? Do you get texts? That's the last thing I ever texted him. And he answered. And then people are saying that he's missing. I ask if Justin's odd post, the one saying don't look for me, also worried Jason. He admits while Justin's writing sometimes had a dramatic flair, that wasn't the post that concerned him. It was a different one. Uploaded a few days before the trek, Justin wrote something quite abnormal about the baba he left with.

20:56For reference, a baba can also be referred to as a sadhu. The caption reads, This sadhu has cut his penis off in full renunciation of lust. I don't know how to casually drop that bomb, but I find it both unsettling and impressively dedicated. Did you get any weird feelings when he was talking about that? Like when you first saw that. Yeah, of course, the guy chopped his penis off. Who's not gonna raise an eyebrow? Justin raises an eyebrow. In the post, he says like, I don't know whether to trust this guy. But maybe, you know, and of course, Justin's very trusting. It's incredibly trusting. So, you know, he was lured in by this guy's spirituality or the potential of, yes, of course I had some unease.

21:42You wanna be optimistic. The not knowing is, it's the worst. I've lost friends before. It's horrible to lose someone you love. But also, you know they're dead. So you can start mourning. And start doing whatever you have to do to move forward. Not knowing is like you're stuck. Not knowing is like you don't know whether to move on. or if you're mourning, does that mean that you just lost hope? And then, of course, there's a lot of optimism because even when I started being like, I think my friend is dead, other people were still saying, I think he's alive. And then I'd be like, well, what am I?

22:34Why am I going around saying I think he's dead? And then other people are saying he's alive. That's a weird thing to be. involved in. For hours at that picnic table, I watched Jason's expressions swing between joyous memories and the reality that his friend might be gone. Having to live in that space, the not knowing, sounds unbearable. While Jason longs for answers, there were a few things he said that jumped out at me. First, Justin seemed to have friendships everywhere and develop them quickly. He didn't seem like the type of guy that had enemies. Secondly, he may have been struggling financially, but it's unclear how or if this influenced his disappearance.

23:22And thirdly, Justin said he planned to return to the U.S. to apply for a 10-year Indian visa. So is it possible he had a change of heart and decided to skip that step? I talk it through with Alex, and we agree that we need to get a better sense of who Justin is. We need to speak with someone who can relate to his mindset. Someone who was a nomad at one point or another. And it didn't take long to be certain who we needed to reach out to next.

23:56I got a message from Justin through the Facebook direct message thing. And basically, he said something about how he was going to stay with some hunter-gatherer people in the Philippines. This is Dr. Christopher Ryan, a world traveler, author of Sex at Dawn, and the host of the podcast you heard earlier. He says Justin reached out to him years ago to ask for advice. I responded to him with some hostility because my first thought was, okay, this is some young alpha male dipshit who's going to go way back into the middle of nowhere with no preparation and bring disease to them. And I was responding to a sense of selfishness, like, hey man, this isn't about you.

24:47Have you been in quarantine? How much time have you spent learning their language? Are you just going to wander in there expecting everyone to speak English? Are you going to go back there and expect them to feed you? To his credit, he responded by saying, yeah, you know, those are legitimate concerns. I should have said something about that initially. You know, I've done some research, but I'm not just a thrill seeker and I appreciate your pushback. Justin seemed to me as someone who was really looking for a depth of experience. Dr. Ryan tells me his communications with Justin grew into a friendship and led them to spend two months together in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

25:29That trip ended five months before Justin disappeared. He wrote to me before he went off with the Baba. And he said, I'm not feeling real well. My body, I have a lot of pains. I've lost weight. He sort of listed several things that to me would have been reasons not to go further. To like go get your shit back in balance. And then decide what to do. but for him he listed those things and then he's like but I'm gonna go live in a cave or whatever the fuck it was with this guy and I said to him like are you sure you want to do this man he's like no no I'm definitely gonna do this and I said well all right do what you have to do but make sure you come back and that was you know that was it I feel like he He overestimated his responsibility to an audience.