Erin Marie Gilbert

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2:00have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

2:15Today, I'm discussing the case of Erin Gilbert. In the summer of 1995, 24-year-old Erin Gilbert attended the 20th annual Forest Fair in Girdwood, Alaska with a man she'd met about a week earlier at a local bar. But Erin never made it home. And investigators say that while they have no suspects, they'd still like to speak with her date to better understand exactly what happened that night. This is the case of Erin Gilbert.

2:48In the year 1994, Erin Marie Gilbert was ready for a new adventure. She was in her early 20s and had been living with her father Kurt in San Francisco, California for about five years when she was presented a very unique and exciting opportunity. Her older sister Stephanie invited her to come stay with her in Anchorage, Alaska, basically the polar opposite of San Francisco. But Erin is adventurous and extremely athletic. In addition to acing her classes and maintaining a 4.0 GPA in high school, she played basketball, softball, volleyball, and ran track. She also loves the outdoors. So Anchorage seemed like a great fit.

3:31Stephanie's husband, Mike, was stationed at the Elmendorf Air Force Base, now known as the Elmendorf-Richardson Joint Base. Stephanie told Andrea Cavalier with NBC News, quote, My husband traveled a lot for work, and I was alone so much of the time, so I told Erin she could come stay with me in Alaska. End quote. Erin, Stephanie, and their other sister, Catherine, all grew up really close in Everett, Washington. Stephanie attributes this to them all being really close in age. Catherine and Stephanie are about two and a half years apart, and Catherine and Aaron are only 16 months apart. Stephanie said that they were so close that they could just look at each other to know exactly what they were thinking.

4:15So I have to imagine that Aaron's pretty excited to make the move to Alaska to spend time with her sister, brother-in-law, and their two young children while embarking on this new adventure. And really, it seemed like everything was going smoothly. She's spending time with her niece and nephew, taking them to museums and local parks, and really just watching them grow up. By the time Erin's been in Anchorage for about a year, she's turned 24. She's making some new friends, and even got a new job nannying for a local family that her sister Stephanie knew. But she was really looking forward to attending beauty school in the fall of 1995.

4:52She also had big dreams of becoming a writer It seemed like everything was falling into place for Erin She even met a new romantic prospect At the end of June 1995, Erin went to a well-known bar in Anchorage Chilcoot Charlie's, known to locals as Coots Now, this bar is so well-known that it was coined by Playboy magazine as one of the best bars in America And it's a little different than your traditional bar It's actually made up of 10 bars under the same roof. They all kind of have a different theme and a different experience. So really, there's something for everyone. But as you can imagine, 10 bars under one roof also made for a pretty crazy environment at times.

5:36It's known to get pretty rowdy. But again, Erin's 24 and living her best life. So she, along with many locals, enjoy their time at Cootes. Including this new romantic interest, David Combs. Aaron and David meet at Cootes, talk for a bit, and exchange numbers. They make plans to meet at Cootes again on Friday, June 30th. And it's here that they make plans to attend an event called the Girdwood Forest Fair the following day. Girdwood is basically a resort town still within the city limits of Anchorage. And the fair is pretty much what you'd imagine. A few days of food, entertainment, local vendors, stuff like that.

6:13So at this point, Aaron and David have known each other for about a week, have met up twice, and are going on what really sounds like their first official date outside of Chilcoot Charlie's. And like big sisters tend to be, Stephanie is a little overprotective, and her whole family in Anchorage is very intrigued by this new man in her life. They actually all wait on the lawn on July 1st to catch a glimpse of him as he picks her up at around 4pm. And Aaron's brother-in-law Mike isn't messing around. He asks David to take off his sunglasses so he can get a better look at him. Though Stephanie has said that this could have also just been a respect thing.

6:50Either way, Aaron's family is involved. They meet David, and even Aaron's nephew, who was only four years old at the time, urges Aaron to take a cell phone with her. But she declines. So Aaron and David begin the about 45-minute drive from her home to the fair. Here, they are seen by several witnesses. And really, Aaron was hard to miss. Not only was she a former model with striking features and dark hair, she was almost six feet tall. So a lot of people remember seeing her there that day. But it seems that the last sighting of Aaron was when she was with David at the beer garden shortly before 6 p.m.

7:30Everything after this sighting really comes from David. He says that he and Aaron left the fair at about 6 p.m. But when they got to his car, he realized he'd left his headlights on, and it appeared that the battery was dead. Like Aaron, David also didn't have a cell phone with him at this time. He says he told Aaron to wait by the car while he walked to a friend's house to get some help. After a few hours of walking and trying to find his friend, David says he got back to his car around 9 p.m., but Aaron was gone. From here, he says he went back to the fair to look for her until about 1 a.m., which would make more sense to me.

8:09Why wait by the car when you can just go back to the fair? But David can't find her anywhere, and eventually he assumed that she got a ride home from someone else and was probably pretty upset with him. So he goes back to his car without Aaron. And this time, somehow, it starts, and he drives home. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Money is this invisible thread that ties us all together. It's something everyone has to deal with. That's why teaching kids about money isn't just smart, it's essential. Greenlight is a debit card and money app for families. It's a safe way to teach kids and teens about money.

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10:07At about 7 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, July 2nd, 1995, Erin Gilbert's sister Stephanie gets a very unexpected phone call. It's David Combs asking her if she's seen Erin. He specifically asks if she made it home okay after their date the night before. And after checking Erin's room and seeing that her bed clearly hadn't been slept in, she immediately knows that something is very wrong. Stephanie has described the layout of their home to various media outlets, saying it's entirely possible that Erin could enter their house and go to her room without waking anyone up, but says it would be completely out of character for her to stay out all night and not let them know that she wouldn't be home.

10:53Stephanie and Mike waste no time. They pack up the kids in their car and drive straight to Girdwood. But this does take longer than usual. There's only one road to Girdwood, and now it's kind of in the swing of the 4th of July weekend. So the highway was packed with travelers. And the only way to get there is the Seward Highway. It's a two-lane highway that's known for its accidents, from people crossing over the line into incoming traffic. It's a slim roadway both ways. Driving towards Girdwood, you see the Cook Inlet, where you can sometimes catch a glimpse of beluga whales. When you're headed towards Anchorage, you're against the mountain face.

11:32It offers these gorgeous views of these little mini waterfalls coming down the mountainside as you pass, and you may even spot doll sheep on the cliffs. It's an incredibly scenic drive with many pull-offs that can take you to the mountains, the surrounding forests, or onto the beaches. So you can imagine that lots of people are slowing down to take their turns as well as just to take in the scenery. The winding nature of the road also doesn't do drivers many favors. It's so dangerous that there's a law that you have to have your headlights on even in the daytime because of how slim the roads are and how many accidents happen, especially in the busy summer months.

12:10I think it's just important to note that really there's all these pull-offs you can take into the middle of nowhere. As you're driving down the highway, you can pull off to a ton of different spots to go mountain climbing, hiking, or just to explore. It also means that you can find yourself completely alone in the last frontier just five minutes out of Anchorage. This will be important to remember for later on. So after fighting traffic, Mike and Stephanie arrive at the forest fair in Girdwood. They decide that their best strategy is to divide and conquer, searching the crowd for Aaron. They also pretty much begin asking everyone they see if they've seen Erin.

12:48And many people say yes, they remember seeing Erin, specifically some of the vendors. They remembered speaking to Erin the night before, but no one had seen her that morning. At this point, Stephanie is running out of options and is terrified. So she asks one of the musicians on stage to make an announcement, to ask Erin Gilbert to come to the stage, because her sister Stephanie is looking for her. and luckily they were more than happy to help. While desperately scanning the faces in the crowd for Aaron, Stephanie sees David walking across a small bridge eating a hot dog. He sees Stephanie too, and tells her that he's looking for Aaron.

13:29But this bothers Stephanie. She says that it just didn't seem like David was searching for Aaron with any sense of urgency. To her, it looked like he was really just walking around aimlessly, kind of just strolling and enjoying his hot dog. and not really looking for her sister. Stephanie said, quote, I will never forget that moment either, as I also knew immediately I was afraid of him, end quote. All Stephanie can do at this point is just kind of keep note of everything that she's seeing, and after not finding Aaron anywhere at the fair, she and Mike expand their search to the wooded area surrounding the fair grounds.

14:07But there's no sign of her there either. So they go back to the fair. Again, this is kind of 4th of July weekend and it's packed. So they think maybe they just missed her in the crowd. But after the second search, they still can't find Erin. And they make the call to the state troopers to report her missing. And you guys, get ready to be frustrated. After waiting hours for law enforcement to arrive, Stephanie and Mike tell them everything. They want to make a formal report. And they tell them, well, Erin hasn't been missing very long and she's an adult. They will not be investigating her case as a missing person at this point.

14:52Obviously, it's the last thing this family wants to hear. But that doesn't mean that they're going to stop looking for Erin. her father Kurt flies from San Francisco to Anchorage and they do everything in their power not only to look for Erin but raise awareness about her disappearance they're handing out and posting flyers everywhere they're calling her friends back in California to see if for some reason she's contacted them but there's just nothing no one has seen or heard from Erin and no one can think of any reason that she would just up and leave her life in Anchorage But Stephanie's friend Kathy has an idea She tells her go to the media Call up local news stations and tell them that your sister is missing And that the Alaska state troopers are refusing to take the report So Stephanie does exactly that And this is when they finally begin investigating Aaron's case Of course at this point they are extremely behind not just 24 or 48 hours or even a week behind.

16:00It takes almost two weeks for law enforcement to begin searching. But they do begin searching. They bring in dogs and helicopters to search the fairgrounds and the surrounding area. They don't find Erin or any of her things or really anything to suggest where she may have gone. At this point, her case is being treated as a missing person's case, but authorities say that they don't have any evidence to suspect that foul play may be involved. In a statement for Anchorage News Daily, her father Kurt said, quote, I don't know if she thought he had abandoned her or what. I'm optimistically hoping she went on an impromptu vacation.

16:40That's what I want to think, end quote. Stephanie added, quote, everything was going well. she was working and she was excited about going to school that's why it's so strange end quote Josie it's your new nanny Polly the hand that rocks the cradle a Hulu original what do you know about her now streaming you think if you try hard enough you can stop bad things from happening but you can't good help get out is hard to find you need me do this a Hulu original The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Rated R. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. For bundled subscribers, terms apply. It's Huluween on Disney+.

17:29Watch frightful family favorites like Hocus Pocus and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney+. I am the Pumpkin King! Then take the terror to 10 with a thrilling new remake of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Scream, and more with Huluween on Disney+. All these and more screaming this Halloween season with Hulu on Disney+. Bundle subscription required. 18+. Select Hulu content via Disney+. Additional content on Hulu app. Terms apply. Visit Disneyplus.com slash Hulu for details. On July 21st, 20 days after Aaron's disappearance, the Alaska State Troopers conducted an extensive ground search, including rescue canine, troopers, and 50 volunteer searchers, including members of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and Nordic Ski Patrol.

18:14They searched for about six hours, but again there was no sign of Erin or what may have happened to her. And this is another case where we see families affected by true crime coming together. Karen Campbell whose daughter Bonnie Craig was found murdered the year before in Anchorage also joined the search effort for Erin. It had taken Karen a long time to convince the state troopers that her daughter Bonnie's death wasn't an accident and really to get them involved in Bonnie's investigation. Bonnie Craig was only 18 when she was abducted and murdered while on her way to a 7 a.m. English class at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

18:52Over the years, many have suspected that Bonnie and Aaron's cases may be connected, but Bonnie's killer, Kenneth Dion, was arrested and eventually sentenced to 124 years in prison in 2011, and investigators do not believe that the cases are linked. But in 1995, Bonnie's mother Karen understood what Aaron's family was going through, so she came out to offer her support. At this point, law enforcement still hasn't expanded their search efforts far past the fairgrounds and surrounding area, and still don't really know what to make of Aaron's case. Trooper Wilhelmi said, quote, she hasn't shown up anywhere.

19:32Now we're going back to where she was last seen. We're going to comb that area with a fine-tooth comb to see if she wandered off and got hurt or whatever, end quote. But of course, all eyes were on Erin's date, David Combs, the last person to see her. Aside from his story about his car not working and then all of a sudden starting again, Sergeant Mike Mars from the State Troopers Criminal Investigation Bureau said that they couldn't find any witnesses who saw David Combs during the two hours he said he was looking for his friend in Girdwood. So despite this being a very heavily trafficked area, it seemed that no one saw him.

20:11It also didn't appear that he was being as cooperative as Aaron's family had hoped. They say they repeatedly asked him to help in searching for Aaron, and to work with state troopers. In the weeks following Aaron's disappearance, he did agree to go to the station to take a polygraph test, but he backed out and never did. And while David Combs did speak with investigators and the media initially, he just stopped responding to their request for interviews. He also eventually refused to speak with Aaron's family. Really, he just walked away from the case and it came to a standstill. By the one-year mark of Aaron going missing, law enforcement said that they were still investigating the case, but they hadn't received any calls or leads for months, and everything that had come in was investigated and ruled out.

21:03Trooper Bill Hughes said that he hoped the anniversary of Erin's disappearance would bring in some new tips. Quote, these things jog people's memories. It brings it up in people's conversation. We're just hoping that someone will finally decide they want to say something. Obviously, someone knows something out there. End quote. But that first anniversary of Erin going missing came and went without any answers about what may have happened to her. And as these things do, the years would turn into decades without any viable leads. No trace of Aaron Gilbert has ever been found. And as far as we know, David Combs never spoke with investigators or Aaron's family past those first few statements he gave back in 1995.

21:48In 2017, Aaron's family announced a$35 ,000 reward for information in the case. At this point, Lieutenant Randy Farron was the sole investigator in the Alaska State Troopers Cold Case Unit. He was assigned to 100 cases, including Aaron's. Aaron's case is still categorized as a missing persons case and not a murder investigation. McFerron said, quote, Without a body, we don't know for sure if she's just met with foul play or she died of natural causes. That's often quite a big hurdle to get over. End quote. When it comes to the volume of missing cases in Alaska, McFerrin said, quote, we live in a very big place, in a very rural place, and it is, I don't want to say easy for people to disappear, but people get lost here and it's hard to find them.

22:40End quote. Aaron's photo and case details were eventually featured in a cold case playing card deck, along with other unsolved cases from Alaska, but this effort didn't yield any viable leads. McFerrin told Dateline in 2019 that they hadn't received any new leads in several years, but says that they do follow up on anything that comes in, saying, quote, we just try to keep Erin's story in the public eye as much as possible. It's not over until we find her, end quote. While Lieutenant McFerrin says that they don't currently have any suspects in Aaron's disappearance, they have made statements saying that they have attempted to reach out to David Combs multiple times for questioning.

23:25He said, quote, he's the last person to see her as far as we know. He gave a few initial statements when she disappeared, but we want to talk to him again. That's all, end quote. But again, as far as we know, David Combs has never complied with this request. Aaron's sister Stephanie has since started a Facebook page called Finding Aaron Marie Gilbert, where people can follow the case and leave any information they may have. Stephanie says, quote, it's been a great outlet to share Aaron's story, to keep her face and name out in the world. We don't think she's alive, but she deserves justice, end quote.

24:06And that's pretty much where the case is today. So what happened to Erin Gilbert? Well, Erin's case is one where it truly feels like the possibilities are endless. We know she was last seen with David Combs at about 6 p.m. near the beer garden. From there, we only have David's word that his car wouldn't start, and he told Erin to wait for him there. It feels like almost anything could have happened to Erin during that time. Though it feels unlikely, she could have gone to take a walk in the nearby woods where something terrible may have happened, like an animal attack, a bad fall, or some other type of accident.

24:47She could have left the car to go look for a payphone, or to walk to one of the nearby businesses to use their phone. She could have walked back into the affair to ask someone else for a ride home. Or even just someone in the parking lot. Unfortunately, it feels like she could have been met with foul play in almost any scenario. If someone else did give her a ride home, or even if David Combs gave her a ride home, there are so many places off of that road they could have pulled off into. Many secluded places. But of course, there's no denying that most people, for good reason, point the finger at David Combs What many locals and Aaron's family struggle with when it comes to David Combs' recollection of events is that Alaskans are very prepared In the state of Alaska, five minutes outside of Anchorage, Palmer, Fairbanks, or Juneau you are truly in the last frontier surrounded by wilderness Which means that many Alaskans are more prepared for emergencies than you might be in a less rural environment.

25:54It's extremely common to keep emergency supplies in your vehicle, including jumper cables. If David's lights were left on and drained his battery, his most convenient option for help wouldn't be looking for his friend for a few hours. Not only were the fairgrounds packed with visitors just there for the day, but also camping out for a few days. There was also a nearby resort and gas station that likely would have been able to offer some type of assistance, even if that was just an offer for David Combs to use their phone to call that friend for help versus just taking a chance to catch him at home during the busy 4th of July weekend.

26:33Not to mention, the sun doesn't go down in Alaska in the summer, so all of this would have been happening in broad daylight. and not a single witness has come forward to say that they saw David Combs walking anywhere outside of the fairgrounds. Unfortunately, there are countless places that David Combs would have been able to take Erin in the 13 hours between when she was last seen and calling Stephanie the following morning, many just a few minutes from the fairgrounds. And while according to Stephanie, David Combs' car was searched, they never found anything of value. This episode is brought to you by Rakuten.