The Grave That Lied
The Navajo elder told a harrowing story.
He said he had watched from a ridge in the 1930s. He saw a young man with burros being chased by three Ute men.
He saw them murder the boy and bury him in a crevice.
Investigators rushed to the site.
They found bones.
A skull. Ribs. A skeleton tucked into the red rock.
The media rejoiced. “Everett Ruess Found!” the headlines screamed.
A family DNA test was done. The results were a match. It was over. The family finally had closure.
They prepared for a funeral.
But something nagged at a few experts. The dental records didn’t look quite right.
They demanded a second test. A more advanced lab. The “Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory” stepped in.
The results came back.
It wasn’t Everett.
The body belonged to a Native American male. The first lab had made a mistake.
The family was devastated. The mystery was ripped back open.
Everett Ruess, the boy who named himself “No One,” is still out there.
Buried by the sand. Or perhaps, he simply walked away from the world and never looked back.