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In 1981, Robert Mountford, Jr and his coworker Laura Susan Ramsay were hiking the Appalachian Trail. In May, they were in Virginia, hiking the area of the trail around Dismal Creek, near Pearisburg. When they didn't arrive at a scheduled meet with a fellow hiker towards the end of the month, the hiker called the authorities. A few days later, their bodies were found, along with a fingerprint that would lead straight to their killer. Upon his eventual release from prison, he would again take to the trail and attack two other campers, who miraculously survived to tell the tale of their encounter with Randall Lee Smith, the Appalachian Trail Killer.
Sources for this episode:
Appalachian Trail Histories - Robert Mountford Jr. and Laura Susan Ramsay
Murderpedia - Randall Lee Smith
Grunge - The 1981 Appalachian Trail Hike That Ended In Murder
Strange Outdoors - Murder on the Appalachian Trail
Wikipedia - Appalachian Trail, Dismal Creek, Pearisburg, Virginia
