Samuel Jones packed his pickup with sleeping bags, a camping stove, and a telescope on a calm, cold morning in late October 2000. His 14-year-old daughter Simone was always interested in drawing, so she brought her old sketchbook and some graphite pencils. They were headed to Guadalupe Peak in West Texas, which is a beautiful but hard-to-reach peak that is famous for its beautiful night skies. The dad and daughter were going to embark on a short trip to get away and spend time together under the stars. For weeks, Simone had been talking about drawing the Milky Way from the top of the mountain. He told her he would take her to the nicest view in all of Texas.
They signed the trailhead register early that day and wrote, “Jones x 2—going up to stargaze.” That was the last time anyone knew they were there. Later that night, when they got to the top, they were supposed to phone Eleanor, Samuel’s ex-girlfriend and Simone’s mom. There was no phone call.
Eleanor called the park rangers after not hearing from them for 24 hours. The quest started immediately away. Rescue workers hunted for victims on foot, helicopters flew over the area, and scent dogs followed the trail. For days, they searched the rough terrain for evidence of the two. But there was nothing there. There were no tracks, no gear, and no issues. They found the truck where they had left it, and their names were in the logbook. The search was officially called off after weeks with no new leads.
People in the region didn’t get it. People knew that Samuel was a strong and responsible hiker who had been doing it for a long time. Simone was healthy, joyful, and excited to learn. There was no evidence of foul play, and there was no reason to think they left on their own. People assumed they were either lost or hurt, which made them die because the conditions were so horrible. People ceased talking about their disappearance over time, like they do in a lot of cold cases.
Eleanor’s life went on, even if it ached. She kept whatever she could, like pictures, memories, and Simone’s last sketch, which she found in her chamber. There were photographs of her family, constellations, dreams of far-off places, and things that were hard for her to understand on the pages. Simone was always a little strange, and her art was hard to understand.
In the spring of 2013, though, everything changed.
Two expert hikers who got lost in the remote parts of the Guadalupe Mountains found something awful. In a little gully, they located a tent that was partly hidden by rocks and vegetation. The tent had been used for a long time, even though it was ancient and about to fall down. The bodies inside had been thought to be Samuel and Simone’s for a long time. Later DNA tests proved it.
Even more interesting, several of Simone’s sketches were still safe inside a sleeve that could handle the weather. Some were pictures of landscapes and stars, but others were really disturbing. A tall man with no face kept showing up in the sketchbook. It was sometimes in the backdrop of scenes and other times adjacent to what appeared like a younger Simone. There were a few areas close to the picture where the name “Caleb” was written.
The investigators looked at the case again now that they had this new information. They came into a man named Caleb who lived in a little desert community some 40 miles from where the Joneses went missing. He left soon after the hunt and didn’t seem to have any ties to the family. Even though the coincidence made them suspicious, the authorities couldn’t find any solid proof that he was involved in the crime. There was no forensic evidence, no history of violence, and no apparent connection to Samuel or Simone.
Some others suggested that “Caleb” could have been a dream, a metaphor, or even a made-up person that Simone made up. Some others thought that the two might have met someone in the woods who led them astray or kept them hidden for reasons that were never found out. But the investigation hit another dead end because there wasn’t much proof and the trail had gone cold.
The official word was that the cause of death was “undetermined.” The remnants were too far gone to show the details. There were no visible evidence of trauma, and it wasn’t clear how they died, whether it was from being outside too long, an accident, or something worse. Detectives and family members were nonetheless worried, even though there was no proof. Did the initial search assumptions, like simply following recognized tracks, make it so that key chances were missed?
Eleanor is in her 50s now and is a strong but silent voice for families of missing people. She talks at events not to spread rumors or blame people, but to remind them that not every mystery is solved and that some stories need more attention. She shows Simone’s drawings during her talks not just to remind people how talented her daughter was, but also to show how even the most basic things, like a name scrawled quickly or a tent that is hidden, may have importance.
Eleanor is still quite sad. But it has changed. What used to be a private loss is now a public plea for care, hard work, and not giving up too soon. She keeps Simone and Samuel’s memory alive by making sure that their absence and the things they left behind are still meaningful.
The Joneses’ case is still open and hasn’t been solved yet. In the West Texas desert, there is now a haunting question mark where a vacation that started with astronomy and ended in stillness used to be. We don’t really know what we think we know, and we don’t really know what we do know. It could be in the mountains, in the pages of a lost girl’s diary, or in the eyes of a mother who will never forget.