Father & Son Vanished In Smoky Mountains – One Month Later, Only the Son Was Found Holding His Father’s Jacket

A Family Tradition Turns to Tragedy

On a deceptively calm Sunday in late October 2016, Chris Carroll and his son Sam set out on their annual hike in the Great Smoky Mountains. For Chris, a 35-year-old mechanic from Knoxville, these trips were a reset—a time to reconnect with nature and his son, away from the noise of everyday life. For Sam, just 18, it was a cherished ritual, a chance to bond with his father.

They parked their gray Ford Ranger at the Alum Cave Trail, a route they knew by heart. Witnesses saw them hiking together, focused but not fatigued, at the Alamina Arch around 1:00 p.m. That was the last time anyone saw them.

When they didn’t return by sunset, Chris’s wife Rebecca grew worried. Both men’s cell phones were off, which was unusual. By 9:00 p.m., she called the park rangers and then the police. A search party combed the trails through the night, but there was no sign of Chris or Sam.

The Search: Silent Forest, Fading Hope

Over the next two weeks, search teams expanded their efforts. Volunteers and rescue dogs scoured the dense rhododendron thickets, the “hell tunnels” where even experienced hikers could lose their way. Helicopters flew overhead, but the forest canopy was too thick. Chris’s truck was still in the lot, locked and undisturbed. No clues, no footprints, no trace of the missing men.

By November 7th, the official search was called off. The Carroll family was left with the unbearable weight of not knowing. Rebecca visited the empty parking lot daily, staring at the trailhead, hoping for a miracle.

A Month Later: A Haunting Discovery

On November 25th, with autumn’s chill settling over the mountains, three volunteers from the Mountainfinders group decided to search a remote area north of the Alum Cave Trail—an unpromising zone, thick with tangled rhododendrons. At 3:00 p.m., Ben Carter heard a faint, ragged sound by Walker Camp Prong Creek. It was not a call for help, but a broken, exhausted breath.

He found a young man kneeling by the water, clutching a large, torn black jacket to his chest. His face was gaunt, lips chapped, eyes blank. It was Sam Carroll, missing for a month. There was no sign of Chris—only his jacket, gripped tightly by his son.

Sam was rushed to the hospital, nearly dead from dehydration and hypothermia. He barely spoke, responding only to pain and the jacket he refused to let go. Doctors diagnosed him with severe trauma and dissociation, his mind locked in survival mode.

The Jacket’s Secret: A Murder Revealed

While Sam recovered, forensic experts examined the jacket. At chest level, they found two distinct bullet holes and dried blood—evidence of a close-range shooting. The case shifted from a disappearance to a homicide.

Detectives focused their search on the rocky terrace in the rhododendron thicket. There, they found blood stains, shell casings from a 9mm pistol, and additional casings from a .22 caliber rifle—two types of weapons, suggesting two shooters.

Fragments of Memory: Sam’s Silent Witness

As Sam’s mind slowly emerged from the fog of trauma, he recalled flashes of terror—a scream, a gunshot, his father’s heavy breathing, and a dark figure moving through the woods. He remembered dragging his wounded father into the bushes and clutching the jacket when it slipped from Chris’s shoulders. Then, more shots, and the desperate flight through the thicket, pursued by unseen footsteps.

Psychologists described Sam’s memories as fragmented, but they revealed a chilling truth: Chris Carroll had been shot, and Sam had witnessed the attack.

The Hunt for the Killers

Detective Jason Klene began piecing together the evidence. Reports of illegal night hunting and poaching in the park matched the shell casings and the timeline. Witnesses described a maroon Toyota Tacoma seen near the crime scene, driven by men acting suspiciously.

Police traced the truck to Liam Weiss and David Bradley, local poachers with a history of evading rangers. When detectives arrived at their rundown house, both men tried to flee but were quickly caught. In their garage, police found the weapons matching the murder scene. In the backyard, buried under fresh earth, they found Chris Carroll’s body.

Confession and Closure

Faced with the evidence, Weiss confessed. He and Bradley had been illegally hunting when Chris and Sam stumbled upon them. Panicked, Bradley fired a warning shot. When Chris didn’t back down, Bradley shot him. Sam fled, chased by the poachers. Realizing Chris was still alive, Weiss fired the fatal shots. They buried the body, hoping the search would never reach them.

Survival, Loss, and Moving Forward

Sam’s ordeal was unimaginable—a month alone in the wilderness, haunted by trauma and grief, clutching the last piece of his father. Even after the killers were caught, Sam remained withdrawn, his emotions locked away. The truth brought no relief, only the faint beginnings of healing.

But as the days passed, Sam began to ask about the future. Not about the forest, or the jacket, or the past—but about what comes next.

The Smoky Mountains held their silence for a month, but the truth finally emerged—of a father’s love, a son’s survival, and a tragedy born from a chance encounter with violence. For Sam Carroll, the journey ahead is one of recovery, memory, and hope. And for those who search for answers in the shadows of the forest, his story is a reminder that even the deepest silence can be broken.