Derrick Engebretsen: The Nightmare Before Christmas

On December 5, 1998, eight-year-old Derrick Joe Engebretsen vanished from the snowy slopes of Pelican Butte near Klamath Falls, Oregon.  His heart-breaking disappearance took place while cutting a Christmas tree with his father and grandfather, shaking the surrounding community. 

Derrick’s footprints led into the forest… and then simply stopped. No struggle. No trail. No remains. Despite massive search efforts involving local deputies, state police, search-and-rescue teams, dogs, helicopters, and decades of follow-up investigations, Derrick has never been found.

In this episode, we walk through the timeline of Derrick’s disappearance, the eerie details and the baffling, even divisive theories. More than 25 years later, Pelican Butte still holds its secrets—and Derrick’s absence remains one of the Pacific Northwest’s most unsettling unsolved mysteries.

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