The rescuers began their descent at dawn. They installed ropes, anchors, and thermal sensors. The crack was narrow and humid, and every meter seemed to swallow the light. The sound of the wind faded as they descended, replaced by a heavy silence, as if the air had been trapped there for centuries.
Eight meters away, they found the first significant clue: a piece of red cloth, perhaps part of Julián’s windbreaker. It was torn, but not from a sudden fall; rather, it looked as if it had been torn intentionally, like a sign or symbol.
“It was intentional,” Morel said. “Julian was trying to leave a trail.”
The theory fit with something that had always worried the family: Julián was an experienced hiker. It didn’t make sense for him to disappear on a moderately difficult trail. But if for some reason he’d chosen an alternative route, perhaps to shelter from a sudden storm, it would have been plausible for him to have tried to orient himself using the trail markers.
Three meters further on, they found the second clue: a small metal container with an expiration date two years after the disappearance. This puzzled them. It seemed to indicate that someone, not necessarily Julián, had brought food there after 2020.
“Is it possible that someone used this crack as a hiding place?” asked one of the technicians.
“Or maybe someone found Julián and Clara,” Morel replied. “And didn’t report it.”
From that point, the descent became more difficult. The crack widened on one side, forming an irregular cavity. Shining a flashlight into the area, they saw what appeared to be a small makeshift camp: the remains of an electric blanket, an empty soda can, a short rope, and, at the bottom, a partially wet notebook.
Morel opened it carefully. Many pages were illegible, but a few words were discernible: “he’s not coming up,” “wait,” “hurt,” “we hear voices.” There were no names, but the handwriting appeared to be Julián’s.
The most disturbing sentence appeared on a central page:
“I can’t move. She has to stay…”
The sentence ended there, truncated, as if Julián had abruptly stopped writing.
“Something serious happened here,” Morel said. “Julian was injured, but Clara is still alive.”
The most likely hypothesis was that they had become trapped after a partial fall. But one crucial element was missing: none of the bodies were present. And given the depth of the cave, it was unlikely that they had managed to escape on their own without leaving a trace.
While exploring the cave, one of the rescuers found some markings on the wall: three vertical lines repeated several times, like a rudimentary code, perhaps used to count the days.
“There are at least thirty brands,” he reported.
Thirty days. A month trapped.
Media pressure mounted, and the police expanded their search area. For the first time, a previously unthinkable hypothesis emerged: the involvement of another person.
And this theory was strengthened when, at the end of the day, a rescuer found a modern and relatively new rope, which did not belong to Julián, nor to Clara, nor to the teams operating in the area.
“Someone has been here,” Morel said, looking at the mountain as if it might answer him.
But the mountain remained silent.
CONTINUE READING…>>
ADVERTISEMENT
