Account
Jan 24, 2026
Jan 24, 2026
Jonathan
Aujay
38
38
6'0 inches
165 lbs
White
Male
Aujay had the day off from work and went for a day hike in the Devil's Punchbowl area of the Angeles National Forest on June 11, 1998. He never returned. The Devil's Punchbowl is a remote park on the north slope of the San Gabriel Mountains. Aujay had a reputation as a skilled outdoorsman and an experienced hiker who hiked in the San Gabriel Mountains about once a week. He was also a long-distance runner who ran daily and had completed six fifty-mile ultramarathons. A former paratrooper in the U.S. Army's Special Forces unit, Aujay was a deputy at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at the time of his disappearance. He had been employed with the department for fifteen years by 1998 and is described as a conscientious employee who worked nights and rarely called in sick or took vacation time. On the day of his disappearance, early into his hike, Aujay encountered a teacher with class of children on a field trip. He stopped to talk to them and said he planned to go to the summit of Mount Baden-Powell, a 9,400-foot-tall mountain twenty miles away, and returned by sunset. Over the next several hours, two witnesses saw a man fitting his description jogging towards the mountain. The last sighting of Aujay was at 6:00 p.m.; someone saw him heading towards the parking lot. Not long afterwards, area residents heard a single gunshot in the vicinity. Aujay never returned home and has never been heard from again. His wife reported him missing at 11:00 p.m., and police found his truck in the parking lot and launched a search at 11:30 p.m. An extensive search involving two helicopters, thirty people and at least two bloodhounds failed to find any trace of him, other than some footprints in the snow near Mount Baden-Powell. The search was called off after a week. Aujay left behind his wife of twelve years; they were high school sweethearts and had a five-year-old daughter. According to his wife, a month before his disappearance, Aujay had told her he wanted a divorce. His sister stated he was unhappy living in Los Angeles County and that he wanted to move to the mountains. For unspecified reasons, investigators believed that Operation Silent Thunder, a two-year undercover methamphetamine operation in the Antelope Valley area, might uncover evidence about Aujay's disappearance. No clues were found, though, and he remains missing. Aujay's case remains unsolved.
Jun 11, 1998
Angeles National Forest
California
Angeles National Forest
8
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Departmen
323-890-5500
01/26/2026
