NEXT: August Reiger and Jenny Pope - is there a connection?

Perhaps fearing the August Reiger case is another Jenny Pope scenario, Ecuadoran officials claim there's been "credible sightings" this month of the missing Oklahoma teen.

Reiger, a recent Classen School honors grad, disappeared from the resort town of Baños this past June while hiking with his family on a scenic jungle trail overlooking the touristy hotspot.

Authorities in charge of the Ecuador hunt for him continue to assert that the youth didn't accidentally die or get murdered, but, rather, was "kidnapped" by thus far unknown individuals aiming to extract a ransom in exchange for his safe return.

 

However, it's been over 70 days since August Reiger mysteriously vanished and still no demands for money -- either by phone or in writing -- have been made.

 

What's more, the area he disappeared from isn't known for such abductions and Reiger himself doesn't fit the typical profile kidnappers are usually targeting...

 

To glean what's true from potentially good PR spin, I analyzed what is known about this vexing equatorial riddle and compared it with yet another famous missing person case from that very same locale: That of British backpacker Jenny Pope.

 

The 50-year-old athletic Pope went missing abroad under eerily similar circumstances in 2006 and is now presumed to have been brutally robbed and murdered by a phony Baños tour guide.  Her remains have not been found yet.

 

NEXT on Killing Killers, in both English and Spanish translations.

 

The Mysterious Disappearance of August Reiger

WHERE ON EARTH CAN AUGUST REIGER BE?

 

Father's Day, June 16, 2013, an American family of four vacationing in Ecuador takes a jungle hike together on the scenic but hilly trails overlooking the tourist town of Banos. Two brothers suddenly race up ahead ... but only one of them returns. What happened to the other? Was he kidnapped? Did he fall? Is he a runaway? Or was he murdered?

 

Fulbright scholar, class valedictorian and Oklahoma resident, August Reiger, 18, vanished in thin air on June 16th while exploring Ecuador's picturesque countryside with his mother, father and younger brother, Laithe. 

 

At one point in the trek the two boys had dashed ahead of their parents, yet, minutes later, only the youngest son rendezvoused with them again.

 

"He was sitting there waiting," explains Mr. Reiger, "but he hadn't seen his brother."

 

The steep and winding path the Reiger family took, while secluded, is a popular tourist attraction in this region, and the small town where they were staying, dependably crime free.

 

In fact, although U.S. and Ecuadoran officials are jointly investigating August Reiger's strange disappearance as an abduction, and even offering a reward to his potential kidnappers, the reality is there's never been an abduction in this area.

 

Moreover, no ransom note has been delivered...

 

Adding to the mystery, some locals have since been claiming they might've spotted the youth riding in the back of a pickup truck, apparently headed for the Amazon rainforest.

 

But others think that's a bit farfetched. They're speculating that Reiger is probably at the bottom of a ravine somewhere, his body hidden from search parties by dense foliage.

 

What do you think? Is this brilliant young man still among the living? And, if so, where?

 

Eponymous Rox

 

[Updated on 7/2/13 from July 1st to include photo of Laithe Reiger]