On the Anniversary of His Disappearance, Family Releases That Missing Man’s Van Was Located and Where
Information from the Lippuner family:
Our 59 year old brother, Hans Lippuner, disappeared without warning from his home in McKinleyville one year ago today, October 16, 2018. We were told that he seemed to be struggling with depression, pain from a bad hip, and weight loss in the two weeks prior to his disappearance. Hans is Caucasian, 5’8″, thin (around 140 lbs), blue eyes with glasses, missing a couple front teeth, very short graying/brown hair, 2 -3″ beard growth, a cigarette smoker who limps with right hip pain. He commonly wears a 2 -3″ glass dragonfly on a soft cord necklace.
Hans has a huge circle of friends and family that deeply cares about him and his whereabouts and we have been very affected by his disappearance and lack of information as to his whereabouts. He is a gifted mechanic, craftsman, climber, backpacker and all-around good guy – a man with a huge heart who has always stepped forward to help others.
In the spring, our family hired Chris Cook, private investigator, to lead the search for him. We recently learned that Hans’ van had been found by a hunter near the end of Old French Creek Road off of Hwy 299, just outside Del Loma, California. The van had been parked near the end of this little used fire road in this remote area. Although a thorough ground search in this very rugged and steep area was conducted by Diana Totten and her Search and Rescue Team, Hans was not found. The coordinates where the van was found are: 40°50’47.4″N 123°17’54.6″W https://goo.gl/maps/zVks6SvG2DtRaF9W9 . Family and friends have also gone up into that area to search on their own, with no results.
This has been an enormously difficult year for our aging father, and our entire family as well as Hans’ wide circle of friends. We would like to ask anybody who might have seen Hans or his van around the dates of his disappearance – October 16 and 17, 2018, to please contact Chris Cook, private investigator, at 707.839.7422 [email protected] and/or Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office – Investigator Jenn Taylor, at 707.268.3642.
Our 59 year old brother, Hans Lippuner, disappeared without warning from his home in McKinleyville one year ago today, October 16, 2018. We were told that he seemed to be struggling with depression, pain from a bad hip, and weight loss in the two weeks prior to his disappearance. Hans is Caucasian, 5’8″, thin (around 140 lbs), blue eyes with glasses, missing a couple front teeth, very short graying/brown hair, 2 -3″ beard growth, a cigarette smoker who limps with right hip pain. He commonly wears a 2 -3″ glass dragonfly on a soft cord necklace.
Earlier Chapters with more information:
- McKinleyville Man Missing in White Van
- Sheriff’s Department Asking Public’s Help in Finding Man Missing Since Last Year
- Family Asks Community to Look for Missing Man
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That’s exactly how I planned my suicide. Park on a rarely used road and hike off trail many hours so I’ll never be found. Fortunately I moved out of Humboldt and the suicidal thoughts went away both times I moved away.
You aren’t alone in those thoughts. It is a good reminder that there are other places that might hold our existence in better conditions for improved mental health. It is good to remember that…. and I also laughed that your comment indicates “both times”, so you are saying you came back to test it again. Humboldt has a lot of lovely lures in spite of the conditions that leave us thinking we should quit.
For the people that want to talk bad STOP if you are not happy it’s not just the place you live it’s you and you need help trying to say humboldt is bad just makes you look bad ….. I have been all over the U.S. A. and i love humboldt no other place like it go get help if you are unhappy
Humboldt in the middle of winter could drive a sane person crazy. The sun doesn’t shine for weeks at a time with nothing but fog. Hello Vitamin D capsules. I personally think if you’re cheery all the time in the middle of a Humboldt winter you’re the one that might need to seek help….seriously.
You absorb vitamin D even through the fog. Just go outside and do something.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder
To Omg, the people who want to talk about their struggles should never be told to stop. That is one of the main reasons their isn’t better mental health help around. Because we have always been told to stop talking about it. It needs to not be a taboo subject.
I hope Hans is found safe.
too true.
“Big French Creek” road. That section of road was gated shut. There is a residence a couple miles down the road from there, but that part of the road gets a bit of traffic with access to the Green Mountain TH (the lower part before the gate). Was the van just found this hunting season? Does it look like it had been there a year?
Here’s a direct link to the topo map of the area:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B050'47.4%22N+123%C2%B017'54.6%22W/@40.8457685,-123.2797273,14z/data=!5m1!1e4
Good question. Article doesn’t say when the van was found.
My understanding is the van was found in December but because of a mistake it wasn’t connected with the case until recently. But I didn’t get that from either an official source or from the family so that may not be correct, though I believe my source.
Was it a bear hunter? The pin puts the van at 3300-3400 feet. The weather was pretty harsh last December with low snow the start of the month and then a lot of rain.
Curiosity has caught me. It’s in my neck of the woods and I know the area pretty well. Oddly, it’s near a location I’ve had an urge to go visit since last fall.
You might be having that urge for a reason. Go check it out. Hope he is found soon.
Ullr Rover, you must have that gut feeling for a reason. It sure would be nice if you would take a friend and look in that area. It would be wonderful to find him passed or alive for his family and friends. When I get that feeling I always follow through, good or bad. If you go friend be safe.
I’m out wandering the woods a lot… I mean a lot. .. so, I often get the urge to go hither and yon. This place happened to be on my short list since spring and really short list currently. I was just waiting for rifle season to wrap up.
Kym do you know if the longitude/latitude is precisely accurate for the van?
I messaged with the family and they feel very confident that it is accurate. One of the family members is a tech guy.
The family wanted to reiterate that there have been several searches in the precise area the van was found with no results thus far
I made it up there today. I didn’t get to do an exhaustive search and plan on going back.
Did Mr. Lippuner own a 9mm?
Of course, it’s not uncommon to find spent casings, but 9mm not far from where the van was located. It is a little odd since no one is hunting with 9mm and it’s a lengthy trip to go dump a magazines worth of ammo. I can come up with other explanations, but I thought I’d ask. The casings aren’t very old… sometime in the past year.
I’ll ask his sister.
Ullr,
This is what she said:
“Hans owned a 357. However, we understand that (google says) 9 mm can be used in a 357. Whether or not it was Hans’ we don’t know. We dont’ know the whereabouts of Hans’ gun.
please thank him so much for going up there and caring enough to look. I appreciate him following his gut feeling about needing to go there. “
Ok. I’ll update when I make it up there again.
9mm ammunition and .357 are not compatible. While the projectiles are similar in diameter, the cases of the bullets are not compatible and cannot be used interchangeably between the weapons. the .357 is a revolver with a rimmed case, while the 9mm is a round for an automatic and is shorter and does not have a rimmed case.
Ullr Rover, thank you for the link.
There are many reasons why people take their own lives. Some try two and three times. Some reasons can be justified. My cousin killed himself after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and told he would only live about six weeks. He decided to take the early out and not suffer or have his family suffer with him until he succumb to his death. I don’t have a problem with that. Old people who are alone or decide they want to die as a couple and have little reason to continue to live. I don’t have a problem with that either. People who have committed a serious crime and know if they are arrested they will spend the rest of their lives incarcerated. I wouldn’t have a problem with them killing themselves. How many times have you seen stories of a parent killing their family and then killing themselves? Or the parent who drowned their children, but was arrested and now they will spend the rest of their lives in a prison. If I was that parent I would kill myself. Why would you want to stay alive after you did that? Or the person who kills other people and then themselves. I can understand that. Then their are the young adults who kill themselves because their boyfriend or girlfriend broke up with them. Those suicides I don’t understand. Maybe because I do not understand how anyone could mean that much to another to end their lives. Maybe that’s just me though…………….. There are stories of war prisoners killing themselves when they witnessed their captors shoot their fellow soldiers. Japanese soldiers famous for committing suicide when they were taken as prisoners or failed their sworn duty. When your life has no more value life and isn’t worth living. Lots of reasons.
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🚫 Why would you say something like that? That is seriously so hurtful. Even
To ME. and I don’t even know the guy .
I get so tired of people who suffer from
( and SUFFER the rest of us)
with their lack of compassion, void of any empathy or feeling. Especially when it is posted anonymously. Im sure you could probably get a better one from any mountain top or dirt road in between Humboldt and mendo counties anyway just take your pick from the many things left behind from the people who have been missing and are not being looked for like usual.
Among the shock and disgust I have just felt by reading this comment that was so unnecessary and rogue…
I think that I can fairly quickly say without being wrong that you yourself, or someone(s) you have association with already probably have a pretty strong idea of wherever you would need to go ..
To get one for free.
Gross. I feel terrible for you but I don’t know why.
Honestly you can’t seriously feel good about yourself after the comment you have made right? 🙄 so. So. SOOO unkind. Even if it was meant jokingly.
thank you for your comment here. It was very hurtful to see that comment. I appreciate everyone’s support and care that posted helpful comments here. It means a lot. Hans’ sister – Susi
Susi, my condolences. I live not too far from where Hans’s van was found. My daughter and I ventured out that way a few times to see if we could pick anything up the SAR team didn’t. We went a little further than the SAR team did down the road (very brushy) and only found a Monster Drink can. I suppose if Hans was into Monster Drinks it merit review but the can was bottled in 2014 by the stamp on it. As I posted above we found 9mm casings and fire ring. The area is particularly difficult with brush regrowth from the fires and the typical Trinity county steepness. I’ve covered more miles on foot cross country out here than anyone I know and I wouldn’t have left the road bed in that area. There is a jumble of rocks above the road bed that may merit further investigation but we only did a cursory look as we were running out of daylight.
Good luck in your search. May you find peace of mind. Sincerely.
thank you Ullr Rover. I feel your compassion and care. We appreciate that you took the time to do some looking. Diana Totten, who led the SAR came back from the process with a shirt so ripped that she had to throw it out. And my sister had gone up there informally and came back full of poison oak. It sounds like a really hard terrain. We hope to do some search again in the spring – friends and family. It’s such a mystery. and painful. Maybe we can check out that jumble of rocks when back up there. We miss him very much. Take good care and thanks again
You think he could have just flown off in a small plane? I actually never thought of that possibility. Hmm 🤔
For those of you who are surmising about Hans, I knew Hans when he was a young boy and he was the sweetest little boy and always had a smile on his face or something positive to say. I hope someday he’s found and the family can rejoice. If he has passed away, I hope he’s found as well so that they can find peace. Please pray for him and the family.