Aubrey Sacco is no shrinking violet. The 2009 graduate of the University of Colorado with degrees in studio art and psychology is, in her own words, an artist, traveler and yogi. Her motto, expressed on her Web page, is “Make love to life.”
Late last year, the globe-trotting 23-year-old set off on a trek to India and the Himalayas. Starting with a stint as a yoga instructor at a resort in Sri Lanka, she eventually made her way to Nepal, where she set off on April 20 for a trek through Langtang National Park in the Himalayas. She planned to finish the hike by April 29 or 30.
She hasn’t been seen since. It is, her mother, Connie Sacco, told NBC News, “every parent’s nightmare.”
Traveling aloneThe Greeley, Colo., mother said Aubrey checked in with park officials when she began the hike, but she never checked out of the park. Connie Sacco believes her daughter was hiking alone without a guide or porter. She did not make contact with her parents at the end of April as she had promised.
“She’s a free spirit. She’s an artist, she’s a yogi, she knows herself. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known,” Connie told NBC in a report that aired Thursday on TODAY. “She’s my best friend in the world. She knows that, and I know she knows we’re trying to find her.”
Om Bahadur Rana, the police chief in the Rasuwa area, said police teams were searching the trekking route and interviewing inn owners and villagers. Word has been sent to local monasteries, which are often visited by foreign trekkers.
Rana said the teams are searching for clues up to 300 feet on either side of the mountain trail. Police sniffer dogs will also join the search, he said, adding that no one has reported seeing a woman meeting her description leave the area.
‘A big place’The search was unable to begin sooner because mass protests on May 1 and a general strike imposed by Maoist former rebels shut down all transportation in Nepal until May 7.
Thousands of Western backpackers visit during the spring season to hike in Nepal, home to dozens of popular mountain trails as well as Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.
Aubrey’s father, attorney Paul Sacco, has flown to Katmandu to help with the search. Friends have created a Facebook page to keep Aubrey’s friends up to date on developments in the search.
The U.S. Embassy in Katmandu is also involved in trying to find a traveling companion that Aubrey may have met along the way. The Nepalese government is coordinating search efforts.
“The best way to find my daughter is to have all those people on the trail looking for her. Even though we have some good people, it doesn’t hurt to have numbers. It’s a big place,” Paul Sacco told NBC News.
Positive thoughtsAubrey Sacco is an experienced traveler. According to ColoradoDaily.com, she had traveled to Panama, Japan and Asia under grants arranged by the University of Colorado.
“She is incredibly courageous and a free spirit,” Paul Sacco told ColoradoDaily.
The father said he won’t come home until he finds his daughter. He’s hoping to find other trekkers who may have run across her during her travels. Both parents feel she is alive.
“I feel that she’s just lost, she’s just gotten off the trail and she’s just missing,” Connie Sacco said. “My gut is that she’s waiting for her father to come and get her.”
“She may not be lost, but there’s no communication,” Paul Sacco told The Associated Press. “It’s terrible. But what do you do? Do you wait a month? It’s so frustrating. Aubrey is a student of Eastern philosophy, and she firmly believes that positive thoughts from everyone will fix any problem, and I really believe that.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.