There are hardly fewer missing person cases that have gotten more publicity in Canada than Madison Scott. After all, she disappeared while camping so the spooky aspect combined with the reality that we’ll never ever find out what happened or why have people googling this name again and again. Not to mention her publicity: the massive distribution of bumper stickers, posters and signs have kept Madison Scott’s memories alive.
But for the uninitiated, here’s what happened to Madison Scott aka Maddy Scott.
Madison Scott: What Happened Before And After Her Disappearance?
Bumper stickers, raising awareness for the disappearance of Maddy Scott, could be found in multiple places in Vanderhoof and British Columbia. Maddy’s family and friends organized an awareness campaign to spread the fact that she is missing. There is currently an advertised $100,000 reward for anyone who shares information leading to the arrest of whoever took Maddy. The family also once held an annual poker game in an effort to keep the memory fresh in people’s minds. And there are also a number of documentaries, including a 48-hour episode (devoted almost exclusively to Maddy), vlogs, blogs, a “Crime Stoppers” video on the disappearance of Madison Scott, and a documentary produced by Scottish director Steven F. Scouller.
Awareness is crucial to helping a missing person case gain traction and in this article, we take a look at what exactly happened.
What happened to Madison Scott?
Madison Scott disappeared on Saturday, May 28, 2011, after a birthday party she attended at Hogsback Lake, 25 kilometers southeast of Vanderhoof, British Columbia. Scott planned to spend the night camping with a friend, but a fight broke out between the friend and some partygoers, after which the friend decided to leave the party with her new boyfriend. Some of the last people to leave three hours later, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m said they asked Maddy if she wanted a ride home. This was the last time anyone said they had spoken to her.
Identifying features of Madison Scott:
Madison Scott was a 20-year-old Caucasian female at the time of her disappearance. She was 70-80 kg and 1.63m tall, with hazel eyes and natural ginger hair color.
Most distinctly, she had recently gotten a tattoo of the silhouette of a swallow on the inside of her left wrist. This was just before her disappearance. Maddy had numerous piercings in her ears and a nose piercing.
Where was Madison Scott from?
Madison Scott was born to Eldon and Dawn Scott on April 29, 1991. She worked as an apprentice heavy machinery mechanic with her father at MBG Logging. She was Ben’s younger sister and Georgia’s older sister, and her brother would describe her as someone who was as comfortable in a dress as she was in overalls.
Madison Scott could basically blend in with anybody as she enjoyed bicycling, horseback riding, team sports, and hanging out with her friends. Maddy was also known to love performing with and for her friends in fun short amateur video productions. She was described as someone who would bring it all together. Her personality was a lively, fun-loving, playful, and social personality, and often did things without anticipating them.
In fact, she was known to break engagements or meetups if she thought there was something that was more fun. For example, she broke off a playdate with her cousin, Cora Kelly, a day early to go to the party at Hogsback Lake. Still, it was considered completely out of character for her not to have any contact with family and friends for a long time.
She was not aloof, and she was friendly. But Madison Scott, like most teens, had a thing for nice, expensive things and left behind expensive motorcycle gear at camp and had bought a new iPhone before disappearing. Nonetheless, she was also a loving and caring personality, her friend Chelsea Little saying that she was always “ready to give the shirt away” to someone in need. Like a typical teen, it was also said that she focused more on the social aspects of school and, although she passed the subjects, she was not too interested in academics.
Madison Scott and the last birthday party she would attend:
The Hogback Lake Party was the last time people saw Madison Scott. Aside from her friend Jordi Bolduc, Maddy was friends with few at the Hogsback Lake party. Spending most of her life in Vanderhoof, Maddy attended Nechako Valley Secondary School, where she met Jordi Bolduc in 2007.
Jordi was new to the school; she and Maddy became friends shortly after their arrival, although this friendship faded when they graduated in 2009. The party was to celebrate a birthday and was organized by a boy who was also in Hogsback. The party was announced on Facebook. It was reported that around 50 people attended the party.
Vehicle and personal belongings at the time of disappearance:
Maddy went to Hogsback Lake in her white 1990 Ford F150 pickup truck with her friend Jordi Bolduc. There were a number of items that Maddy took with her to the lake that were left in or around the vehicle after she disappeared. Many of these items were of value. Items found around the truck after her disappearance included a two-tone blue tent, sleeping bags, toiletries, and jewelry. After her disappearance, an ax, a cooler with wine and beer, a can of gasoline with gasoline, and motorcycle boots were found.
Items found inside her truck, which was locked, included:
- Some clothing,
- Her purse,
- An expensive camera.
At the time of her disappearance, numerous items were known to be missing. Among those items are the clothes she was wearing, an iPhone 4 with a case, and a keychain with numerous keys (featuring the Ford keys) on a gothic-style lanyard.
Madison Scott’s disappearance:
As we mentioned before, Maddy had attended the party with her friend Jordi Bolduc on the night of May 27, 2011.
Most interestingly, she had retreated to her tent before a fight broke out around midnight and Jordi, injured and drunk, left with her new boyfriend. According to Jordi, even though she had tried to convince Maddy to go with them, Maddy was already in her sleeping bag and didn’t want to get up, so Jordi left her there. Jordi returned to the camp with her boyfriend around 8:30 am the next day to get Jordi’s clothes and sleeping bag before she left for work.
Jordi found Maddy’s tent open with her sleeping bags and things thrown aside. Jordi said that she did not see Maddy and that she never said any of this to anyone.
But it seems that there was a second party that took place on the night of Saturday May 28, 2011 that was more than twice the size of the party Maddy disappeared to. Maddy’s sister was at the second party, but she didn’t see Maddy there and didn’t want to report that she was at the party because she was underage and didn’t want to get in trouble. Maddy’s tent was trampled on at the second party and the person who trampled on it was identified and questioned by the RPMC, and nothing was reported to the public regarding any suspicious motives.
How big is Hogsback Lake where Madison Scott disappeared?
Hogsback Lake is a lake approximately 128 acres in size. It is located 26 km southeast of Vanderhoof. The soil type in the area is mainly sand, gravel and clay, with a bedrock of basalt.
There are three gravel pits within 10 km of the lake, Mapes Pit, Skye Pit and Hogsback Pit. The area is a mosaic of lakes, streams, swamps, forests, and fields. The topography is made up of slightly rolling hills. Although there are no ranches within sight of the Hogsback Lake Campground, there are numerous privately owned ranches within a mile of the lake, some with houses and other structures. Some of these are cattle ranches and it is not uncommon to see horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock nearby. Hogsback Lake itself is 22 feet deep.
There is a single outhouse about 50 feet from where Maddy was camping, accessible via a gravel lot. Depending on the weather, the steps can be noisy when walking. There are a total of 10 campsites at Hogsback Lake, and they have been known to host parties of hundreds of people.
Did Madison Scott have a husband or boyfriend?
Like any young lady, Madison Scott was on a couple of dating sites at the time. But she was single at the time of her disappearance
There was a guy she was interested in for a while who was also at the Friday night party for a while; he told her that he “just wanted to be her friend.” Naturally, Madison Scott was a little upset about this but not mad at all. It is not known if there was any investigation into the boy Maddy had been interested in.
There was another boy who was interested in her, but according to her mom Dawn “she wasn’t interested in him”. According to Dawn, Maddy’s cell phone records indicated that she received an incoming call at 12:30 a.m. on May 28, 2011, the night of the party, “from a young boy we know.”
Cell phone records show that Madison’s phone got a call:
Dawn Scott texted her daughter Madison at 11:30 p.m. on Friday May 27, 2011. And the last activity on her phone was around 12:30 AM. m. on Saturday, May 28, 2011, when, according to Dawn, “there was an incoming call from a guy we know.” The RPMC recovered cell phone logs, including tower pings. There was no record of any incoming calls to the cell phone after this one. And the cell phone stopped connecting to the tower around 8 a.m. on May 28, 2011.
Madison Scott’s missing person investigation:
The investigation into the disappearance of Maddy Scott used more investigative tools than any other case in CB history. The police, in addition to questioning all partygoers on the night of May 27, 2011 believed wholeheartedly that they had no reason to believe that anyone at the party was responsible for her disappearance. Because:
- Most of those attending the 150-person party took polygraph tests.
- Jordi Bolduc took the test several times
Following her disappearance, the search in and around Hogsback Lake area had been searched extensively, including the lake, streams, fields, swamps, and woods surrounding the lake. The area has been searched on foot, by quad, on horseback, by helicopter, and by divers, with specialist dogs, by boat, by car and by truck.
Divers were recruited because Hogsback Lake is a lake about 128 acres in size and 22 feet deep, with clear water (visibility greater than 10 feet).
There was a particularly extensive search in the first days of the disappearance, with search teams searching in long lines, hand over hand, with specialist body dogs and diving teams scouring the lake. The helicopter search included the use of infrared cameras in the early morning hours, as the ground was cool and body heat was detected. The helicopter search covered an area between Fraser Lake and Pierre Island. The boat search was done using a side-scan sonar.
Was Madison Scott’s friend Jordi responsible for the disappearance?
The police collected and examined all of Maddy’s belongings in the camp, including her truck, tent, sleeping bag and pillow. The police also collected Jordi’s sleeping bag, pillow and pillowcase, although Jordi collected them on the Saturday morning after the party. Jordi had washed her pillowcase but not her sleeping bag. Police found blood in Jordi’s sleeping bag, which was determined to have come from Jordi’s ankle. Jordi was questioned about this blood and everything was clarified after learning that it came from when she was on a school trip years before.
The Scott family also hired a private investigator who did his own questioning of Jordi Bolduc. He told the Scott family that Jordi kept asking for her “favorite pillow” back.
Sergeant Floyd of the RPMC stated “we have not identified anyone who has a grudge or had any reason to harm or cause Madison’s disappearance”. He also stated that there were no signs of a struggle and that there was foul play.
Final theories on what happened to Madison Scott:
Judging from her personality as described by friends and family, and how she lived with her parents, it is highly unlikely that she ran away. Therefore, there are numerous theories about what happened to Maddy.
Also, as there was no evidence of anything causing her to leave the camp on her own, such as a puncture, the police consider it unlikely that she left on her own. The possibility of an animal attack has also been considered, with numerous people even reporting seeing a large cougar in the area shortly after her disappearance. However, the animal attack theory has not been taken into account due to the lack of remains or signs of struggle.
Many people have also suggested that Madison Scott may be in the lake, however this theory has proven to be highly unlikely as a team of professional divers explored the lake and found nothing. Additionally, cadaver dogs searched the perimeter of the lake during the early stages of the search and found nothing. The lake is quite small at 128 acres and is only 22 feet deep and the water is quite clear so it’s not hard to find the body.
Does this leave all the fingers pointed at Jordy? Possibly.
