Robert 'Bugsy' Springfield, Bighorn Mountains
A 49-year-old Crow hunter split from his son and a companion while elk hunting on 19 September 2004 and did not return; his remains were found in October 2005.
2004 CE · 45.15, -107.85 · status: unexplained
The account
Robert Springfield was hunting in the Bighorn Mountains on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Family, Bureau of Indian Affairs officers and a helicopter searched without finding anything. In October 2005 a hunter found human remains under a tree in the Black Canyon area, in ground that had been searched. Initial thoughts that a tree had fallen on him were not supported by the scene. In 2007 the family was still waiting for FBI DNA work, and no cause of death has been published.
The sceptical view
An injury, illness or hunting accident remain possible; the lack of a published cause leaves the case open.