A Logger’s Chainsaw Got Stuck in a Tree — What She Found Inside Solved a 29-Year Mystery

Blackwood Forest, Oregon. October 2023.

For nearly three decades, the legend of the “Stubborn Oak” haunted Blackwood Forest. It was a tree that refused to die, outlasting lightning strikes, beetle infestations, and droughts that killed everything else around it. Loggers tried and failed to cut it down. Chainsaws broke, blades shattered, and every attempt to clear the land for development was abandoned. Locals whispered that the tree was cursed. But the truth was even stranger.

The Disappearance

In June 1994, Isaiah Brooks vanished. He was a forestry scientist and environmental activist, engaged to Vanessa Brooks. The official story: Isaiah had abandoned his fiancée and fled to California. Police closed the case after finding his car near the border and credit card activity in San Francisco. Only Vanessa refused to believe it. She knew Isaiah would never leave her.

For 29 years, the Stubborn Oak grew in legend and size. No one knew that it held the answer to what really happened to Isaiah Brooks.

The Discovery

October 2023. Maya Ortiz, a 26-year-old logger with Cascade Lumber, was assigned to finally bring down the Stubborn Oak. She’d grown up in Ridgemont, at the edge of Blackwood Forest. Her father had been a logger, too, before dying in a logging accident when Maya was 13. Maya didn’t believe in curses. She believed in sharp blades and physics.

As Maya made the first cut, her chainsaw suddenly shrieked with a metal-on-metal scream. The blade hit something inside the ancient tree, something that wasn’t wood. She stopped the saw and began chipping away at the strange material—cement-like, crumbling under her knife. Behind it, she saw fabric. Old, blue, rotted fabric.

Her crew chief called the sheriff. Within an hour, the forest clearing was filled with deputies, forensics, and yellow tape. Inside a hollow cavity in the oak trunk, they found a mummified body: a man in a blue jacket and jeans, preserved by the sealed tree. In his pocket was a wallet. The ID inside read: Isaiah Brooks.

The Old Case Reopened

Sheriff Frank Morrison, who had investigated Isaiah’s disappearance in 1994, was now in charge again. Maya noticed something odd in his reaction—he recognized the name. That night, unable to sleep, Maya searched old news archives. She found the original missing person report and the follow-up: “Case Closed — Voluntary Disappearance.” It was Morrison who’d declared Isaiah had left on his own, based on the car and credit card evidence.

But Isaiah had never left Blackwood Forest. Someone had staged his disappearance—and sealed him inside the Stubborn Oak.

The Activist’s Secret

Determined to find the truth, Maya tracked down Vanessa Brooks, who still lived in the same house. Vanessa, heartbroken but resolute, shared a box of Isaiah’s field journals—never once requested by police. Inside, Maya found meticulous records: Isaiah had been documenting illegal logging by Cascade Lumber. He’d discovered protected old-growth trees being cut, environmental reports falsified, and county officials bribed. He’d even confronted Rick Hullbrook, the company’s regional manager, and received a thinly veiled threat: “Accidents happen in the forest all the time.”

Isaiah’s last journal entry, dated June 12, 1994, described a meeting with an anonymous source at an old logging road. He wrote: “If something happens to me, Vanessa, finish what I started. The forest is worth fighting for.”

The Pattern of Violence

Haunted by her own father’s death in a logging accident, Maya searched through his old belongings. She found a notebook where her father, Carlos Ortiz, had also discovered suspicious payments from Cascade Lumber to Frank Morrison—the same Morrison who’d closed Isaiah’s case. Carlos had confronted Hullbrook and received the same threat. A week later, Carlos died—crushed by a tree in what the company called an accident.

Two men dead. Both had discovered the same secret. Both threatened by the same man.

The Confrontation

Maya contacted Oregon State Police Detective Sarah Reeves, who agreed to investigate but warned Maya to stay out of it for her own safety. Maya couldn’t let it go. She dug through public records, finding a shell company—Morrison Security Consulting LLC—set up in 1994, receiving annual payments from Cascade Lumber. She built a timeline: Isaiah’s disappearance, Morrison’s first payment, Hullbrook’s rise to CEO, and suspicious property purchases.

Then, Maya received a call from Grace Hullbrook—Rick’s daughter—who had found evidence of her father’s payments to Morrison and confessed to Maya that her father had admitted to killing Isaiah Brooks.

As Maya prepared to meet Detective Reeves, she received a chilling text from Rick Hullbrook: “Don’t go to the police. We need to talk first. Come to my office. Alone.”

Maya went, secretly recording the conversation on her phone. Hullbrook, believing he could intimidate her into silence, confessed to everything: luring Isaiah to the forest, sedating him, sealing him in the tree, paying off Morrison, and arranging Carlos Ortiz’s “accident.” “Stay quiet and live. Keep talking, and join your father,” he threatened.

But Detective Reeves and state police, listening in, burst in and arrested Hullbrook. Morrison was arrested soon after. Grace’s testimony, Maya’s recording, and decades of journals and financial records built an airtight case.

Justice and Legacy

The truth finally came out. Hullbrook was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. Morrison turned state’s evidence and was sentenced for accessory and obstruction. Cascade Lumber went bankrupt, reorganized under court order, and Blackwood Forest was designated protected land. The Stubborn Oak became the Isaiah Brooks Memorial—a monument to a man who died for the truth.

Maya and Vanessa attended Isaiah’s funeral together. Vanessa spoke: “Isaiah died protecting what he loved. His voice was silenced for 29 years, but because of a brave young woman named Maya Ortiz, his voice is heard now.”

A year later, Maya visited the memorial, meeting a young woman inspired to study environmental science because of Isaiah’s story. Maya realized the fight was worth it. Some truths are more important than safety. Some fights are worth any cost.

The forest remembers. And now, so do we.