Where's Maddy?

Madison Scott

Hogsback Lake, around 20 kilometers away from Vanderhoof BC, is a cozy camping area with a dock on the lake. It was a popular area for young people to have parties due to the camping areas and isolation. It is far enough away that the noise of a party wouldn't bother anyone living nearby who might call the RCMP and get the party shut down.

The weather on May 27, 2011, was crisp, near 10 degrees Celcius, when young Madison Scott went to a campsite party at Hogback Lake. Madison went with her friend Jordie with the intention of attending the party then camping overnight to avoid driving under the influence as there was alcohol at this get-together.

The party at Hogsback Lake was around 50 people, and according to reports, near the end of the night some people showed up that were not known to most people and the mood of the night soured. Around this time most people decided to leave rather than stay the night at the campground.

Hogsback Lake

What Happened to Maddy?

Maddy's friend Jordie decided to leave around 2:30 but could not convince her to come with her because she was already set up at her campsite. Maddy tried to get Jordie to stay with her but Jordie was extremely drunk and had fallen into a campfire and just wanted to go home. Maddy decided stayed to spend the night at her camp by herself.

The last time anyone reported seeing Madison was 2:45 to 3:00 in the morning when Jordie left the party.

The next day some people came to the campsite to clean up and noticed that Madison's tent was still there but did not check to see if she was inside. It is noted that Madison's truck was still parked in the same spot as it was the night before. Aside from Madison's tent, no one else was at the campsite. Madison is a bright, intelligent and independent young lady 20 years of age. There wasn't any evidence at this time to make anyone think something could have been wrong.

One major issue that is probably caused a problem finding any clues was that the next night after Madison and Jordie went to Hogsback Lake there was another party, one significantly larger with around 150 people attending. At this time that no one reported seeing Maddy at the larger party. If we assume that whatever happened to Maddy happened the night before, any evidence that could have been found was probably inadvertently destroyed by the partygoers at this larger party.

Maddy's parents were concerned that she had not come home or contacted them on the 28th, but she was an adult. If she decided to stay another night then it was her choice. Cell service in the area was spotty at best so she might not have been able to call and let them know that she was staying an extra night.

But by the 29th Madison's parents had a bad feeling and after being unable to contact her on her cell phone they decided to go to Hogsback Lake and look for her. Once at Hogsback Lake, they found Maddy's truck at her campsite with her purse still inside, but her tent had been flattened out, and some of her belongings were inside but had been pushed to the sides of the tent. After they found that Maddy was not at the campsite they contacted the RCMP and reported her missing.

Maddy's Truck

The Search Efforts

Almost immediately their small community banded together to search for Maddy. That first day, people from Vanderhoof and nearby communities of Burns Lake, Prince George, and Fort St.James arrived to help search for Madison. An old employer of Madison brought his lake boat in to search the lake with his fish finder.

The search teams thoroughly searched the area but could not find any trace of Madison. It was later concluded by these search teams that wherever Madison had gone, she must have left the area by road. Because of this, the official search of the area was called off. Although this didn't stop friends and family from continuing to searching the area, including local businesses donating helicopter airtime to search the area. By helicopter, a total of 60 kilometers squared was searched.

Police interviewed and polygraphed everyone who was at the party, but I can't confirm if that means just the first party or the larger second one as well.

This case is one that really hits close to home. I don't live that far away from Vanderhoof, and I have seen the posters and the many bumper stickers on peoples vehicles. I have 2 daughters and can't even begin to understand what her family must be going through. If I was in their shoes, I don't think my mind would be able to handle it. I would be broken, forever.

I found it hard to believe that with so many people in the area, no one saw anything. With all the searching, nothing was found. No scrap of clothing and no cell phone.

A recreation of Maddy's campsite

Unanswered Questions

When researching this case I read other peoples ideas and questions and I may have some insight to some of them.

Why did everyone leave the party when they planned to stay the night?

 

My thoughts on this are that it is possible that when the second group that no one really knew showed up people changed their minds and wanted to go home because the mood changed. Another thing I thought of was that if there is a Park manager on site, they may have told the partygoers to shut it down. Although I can't confirm if Hogsback Lake has an onsite manager, the campgrounds near me do have on-site managers.

Did they "ping" Maddy's cell phone?

This one is probably the most asked question I read. It has been asked so many times on the various sites I was looking at, but I didn't find out whether or not it was. I think that the RCMP would have requested that information, but more than likely it would have told them the camping area. Or nothing at all. Hogsback Lake has poor cell reception, if her phone didn't get any bars there would be no cell tower to "ping" off of. If Madison knew the cell service in the area was crappy, she might have even had her phone turned off. Even on standby, the battery would have died after a few days.

Why are there so little clues?

I think that there are clues but the RCMP have not released this information because it is an ongoing investigation. They don't want the public to know certain facts so they can use that information to their advantage when trying to find out if someone is telling the truth or not.


I think that whoever is responsible for Maddy's disappearance, it isn't someone local. You have to understand something about small towns, everyone knows everyone else's business! Rumors in a small town spread like wildfire. If the police had a local suspect or person of interest the entire town would know by the days end. I think even if someone thought a local person was responsible then that person's name would be known by everyone. If it was a local person, someone would have let something slip at some point and then it would have spread around town quickly. Remember this happened in 2011.

At the time of this writing, it has been 7 years since Maddy disappeared. I personally think that whatever happened to Madison, it was someone that was from out of town. Of course, that is just my opinion. With this case there is a severe lack of info and an abundance of opinions.

It's time to put some closure to this case, we need to find out what happened to Maddy. We need to bring Maddy home.

For more information on this case please visit madisonscott.ca.

If you have any information at all please call the Vanderhoof RCMP at 250-567-2222 or to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Alternately mail Box 1190 Vanderhoof, B.C. VOJ-3A0

If you have any questions or comments on this case, please leave them in the comment section below.

My name is Liam.

See you next time.