The Last Trip

• 103: John Allen Chau

  In November 2018, a young man vanished into the gray sea night, stepping across the forbidden line that separated two worlds.  His name was John Allen Chau - twenty-six years old, an American with a quiet resolve, a missionary’s conviction burning in his chest. He sailed toward North Sentinel Island - a place sealed off from the modern world, where the Sentinelese have refused all contact for centuries. But he wasn’t a tourist. He saw himself as a messenger with a message no one else dared deliver. He carried in his pack a waterproof Bible, gifts, hopes, and a deep certainty that he would either be welcomed or die trying. What followed is part tragedy, part mystery. The fisherman who dropped him off  claimed they saw islanders dragging a body across the sand and a burial at dusk. But exactly what happened in the hours between his arrival and his death - no one knows. His body was never recovered. Was he a martyr? A fool? A man haunted by divine urgency? Or someone who crossed the ultimate boundary - between the known and the unknowable - and paid the price? Listen as we dive into North Sentinel Island, the case of John Allen Chau, and how to stay alive on vacation. Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected] We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter Sources: https://www.instagram.com/johnachau/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/03/john-chau-christian-missionary-death-sentinelese https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46345231 https://allnations.international/john-chau https://www.alex-perry.com/the-last-days-of-john-allen-chau/ https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/22/asia/north-sentinel-island-john-allen-chau-diary-intl https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/john-chaus-death-roils-the-missionary-world https://www.npr.org/2019/08/01/747368557/the-story-behind-john-allen-chau-an-american-missionary-who-was-killed-while-wor https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/john-allen-chau-noble-savages/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-allen-chau https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/a-national-geographic-documentary-examines-the-life-and-death-of-john-allen-chau/article67807254.ece https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46336355 https://sojo.net/articles/john-allen-chau-was-product-missions-marketing-system https://abcnews.go.com/International/john-allen-chau-detailed-efforts-convert-islanders-christianity/story?id=59401238

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• 102: Eloi Rolland: Auckland, New Zealand

  In March 2020, 18 year old Eloi Rolland left his homestay on Auckland’s North Shore  just before dawn. He was a French exchange student - curious, soft-spoken,  and enchanted by New Zealand’s beauty. That morning he opened Google Maps and searched the word Piha. A remote black-sand beach known for its cliffs, its isolation… and its danger. He caught a bus, then a train. CCTV caught him walking alone as the city woke up. By 9:18am, his phone pinged one final time along Piha Road in Waitakere Ranges -  and then… nothing.No more messages. No more movement. No more Eloi.  Police scoured the bushland - dense, silent, and endless - but no trace of him was ever found. What happened in the misty hills outside Auckland? Did Eloi wander off the track? Fall off the cliffs?  Or was something - or someone - waiting for him there? Listen as we dive into New Zealand, the case of Eloi Rolland, and how to stay alive on vacation. Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected] We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter Sources: https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360759600/parents-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-take-search-south-island https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/124382819/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-friends-and-family-still-have-no-answers-a-year-on?_ https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120283016/french-national-eloi-jean-rolland-18-missing-in-auckland https://www.police.govt.nz/missing-persons/listings/eloi-rolland https://www.facebook.com/MISSINGELOIJEANROLLAND/ https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120409689/french-teen-missing-from-auckland-had-troubled-state-of-mind https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120511116/sister-of-fit-smiley-french-teen-missing-in-auckland-desperate-for-answers https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/120860887/chances-of-finding-missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-alive-becoming-more-slim https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/family-of-french-teen-eloi-jean-rolland-missing-in-auckland-since-march-reveal-more/5GVRVY5ZNGMZMKKHJGV4YDB3R4/ https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300097890/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-family-say-theyve-lost-hope-six-months-after-disappearance https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300189370/the-missing-people-of-piha-25-years-six-cases-no-answers https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300201475/missing-french-teen-eloi-rolland-reportedly-sighted-13km-from-last-known-location https://www.20minutes.fr/faits_divers/4096164-20240621-disparition-eloi-rolland-nouvelle-zelande-va-declarer-mort-jeune-homme https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/malgre-labsence-de-corps-la-nouvelle-zelande-va-prononcer-le-deces-deloi-rolland-18-ans-disparu-en-2020-24-06-2024-W2572J4WSNHH7F4NG2S7VJ573M.php https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwbEs-Xku8Y

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• 101: Jim Sullivan: Santa Rosa, New Mexico

  In 1975, a musician named Jim Sullivan got into his car and left Los Angeles behind. He was heading east, chasing a new beginning - or maybe running from something he couldn’t name. He was tall, handsome, magnetic - and his music carried that same restless energy.  Songs about highways, lost souls, and vanishing into the unknown. The kind of lyrics that feel like they’re trying to tell you something… if you’re really listening. Somewhere along that long stretch of desert road, Jim stopped - and from that moment on, no one knows what happened next. His story faded into rumor, mystery, and myth - tangled up in the same strange beauty that filled his songs. Today, we’re going to follow the same road Jim Sullivan took - the one that led him deep into the desert… and out of the world we know. Listen as we dive into New Mexico, the case of Jim Sullivan, and how to stay alive on vacation. Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected] We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/arts/music/jim-sullivan.html https://archive.ph/20190215195820/https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2010/11/10/the-strange-tale-of-jim-sullivans-u-f-o/ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/missing-ufo-singer-songwriter/ https://waxidermy.com/jim-sullivan-ufo/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMysteries/comments/153yeuj/jim_sullivan_was_an_american_singersongwriter_and/ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/searching-for-sullivan/ https://www.ripleys.com/stories/jim-sullivan https://floodmagazine.com/71829/mystery-and-history-the-strange-music-and-stranger-tale-of-jim-sullivan/ https://lightintheattic.net/products/jim-sullivan?srsltid=AfmBOor1gs0JjBwiuB7MVBI_bdkadqzkjsUnhjMldXJDv9D5AP5a0PJg https://therodeomag.com/2019/10/22/the-night-jim-sullivan-disappeared/ https://vocal.media/fyi/whatever-happened-to-musician-jim-sullivan

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• 100: Max DeVries: Aruba

  May 12, 2004 - a day that began like any other for the Devries family.  They were on vacation in Aruba, seeking a moment’s peace, maybe a bit of hope, after a great loss.  Fourteen year old Max, eager for an adventure, asked to go out on a jet ski with a man they recently befriended. By afternoon, that simple request would become the portal to a mystery no one has solved. The man returned - alone. Max did not. What’s astonishing is how quickly questions outpaced answers. The man’s story would shift - from jet ski trouble, to a tow gone wrong, to Max slipping away in the waves, to even claiming he was swimming for shore. Yet no one was ever charged. Max was declared “lost at sea”. What really happened to Max Devries on that Aruban ocean. Was it a tragic accident, or something far more sinister?  Listen as we dive into Aruba, the case of Max DeVries, and how to stay alive on vacation. Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected] We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter Sources: https://www.wxyz.com/news/local-news/investigations/a-metro-detroit-teen-disappeared-in-aruba-in-2004-his-mom-is-still-fighting-for-answers https://maxtothemillions.com/ https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Never-Seen-Again/0FJCILZ3O8D0LOPN4JLLSENIO6 https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/1h4sw4i/what_really_happened_out_in_the_aruban_ocean_to/ https://www.shoresofstrength.org/featuredcases/maxdevries https://www.facebook.com/groups/62321359000/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qaC8f965qc https://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/local/community/brighton-township/2024/03/12/docuseries-investigates-2004-disappearance-of-brighton-teen-in-aruba-max-devries/72941075007/ https://www.chipchick.com/2024/12/his-mom-saw-him-ride-off-on-a-jet-ski-in-aruba-with-an-older-man-and-then-he-vanished https://thecinemaholic.com/max-devries-found-or-missing-is-he-dead-or-alive/ https://thecinemaholic.com/max-devries-mom-sister/

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• 99: Johnny Waterman: Denali, Alaska

  It was April 1st, 1981, when Johnny Waterman, a 29 year old brilliant climber and haunted soul, set out from the Mountain House deep in the Ruth Glacier of Denali National Park.  His goal was the East Buttress of Denali, approached via the northwest fork of the Ruth - an audacious, almost impossible route in the winter. He carried remarkably little: a sled, snowshoes, not much food, and wands to mark his route. No tent, no sleeping bag. He told a fellow climber he believed he could manage with minimal gear. He was last seen somewhere around 11,000 feet - cutting a straight line through a labyrinth of crevasses and snow chutes.  Then…. He vanished. Listen as we dive into Alaska, the case of Johnny Waterman, and how to stay alive on vacation. Do you have a story to share? Send your email to [email protected] We're on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastTripPodcast Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast Theme Music by Roger Allen Dexter Sources: https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198233700/John-M-Waterman-1952-1981 https://youtu.be/zyIB180NitE?si=9I0i-IcWpFMI_Mx8 https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/shining-brightly-briefly-johnny-waterman-165023821.html https://explorersweb.com/shining-brightly-briefly-johnny-waterman-and-his-1978-solo-traverse-of-mount-hunter/ https://murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net/2025/06/04/the-strange-and-tragic-lives-and-deaths-of-guy-and-johnny-waterman/ https://sites.lafayette.edu/raicha/files/2010/08/Waterman.pdf https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13198201900/Climbing-Alone-Alaska-Mount-KcKinley http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2193010/The-Legendary-incredible-JOHNNY-WATERMAN https://uncovered.com/cases/john-waterman https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/natural-death/

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