The Jacket That Shouldn't Exist: Alone, Cold, Three Miles Lost

The Jacket That Shouldn't Exist: Alone, Cold, Three Miles Lost

Cold, alone, and dressed in trail runners in four-degree weather, a woman walked out of unmapped backcountry three and a half miles from where search dogs lost the trail - wearing a men's olive canvas jacket with the name "Tom Fleming" stitched inside, while the identical jacket hung in a closet forty-one miles away. How did Kathleen Fleming cross that distance in those conditions and leave behind a jacket that should not have existed at the scene?

In this episode, we tell the events of a single night and the hours that followed, following search teams, a dog handler, and a county investigator as they try to account for impossible movements and conflicting evidence. What really happened between Tolliver Creek Trailhead and Millburn Pass Road that night?

Person: Kathleen Fleming
Date: November 14, 2017
Location: Millburn Pass Road / Tolliver Creek Trailhead
Status: Alive
Case: Missing-and-found with conflicting clothing evidence

- Kathleen Fleming left work at approximately 4:30 PM on November 13, 2017 and drove to Tolliver Creek Trailhead.
- Pocket, her ten-year-old Alaskan husky, missed scheduled feeding at 7:00 AM, prompting concern.
- Tom Fleming called the sheriff’s department at 9:17 PM on November 13, 2017 to report Kathleen missing.
- Search-and-rescue teams arrived at Tolliver Creek Trailhead by 10:45 PM and found Kathleen’s truck and phone locked inside.
- At 6:15 AM on November 14, 2017, Alice Simmons found Kathleen seated against a rock on Millburn Pass Road wearing an extra-large olive canvas jacket labeled "Tom Fleming" while an identical jacket hung in a closet in Dunbar, forty-one miles away.

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