About 40 minutes after Tripp fled into the woods, he called his parents asking them to come pick him up — showing no apparent suicidal intent in the call.
Where this was said
At 15:02 · chapter starts 12:40
Unknown to the deputies searching the woods, Tripp had reached out to his parents approximately 40 minutes after running away. He called his mother Jennifer, saying the police had his four-wheeler and asking for a ride home. While Jennifer was still on the phone, Gil received a call from a deputy he knew — Jason Bradshaw — asking if Tripp was home. Gil told Tripp that Bradshaw was out there, that he should walk toward the blue lights he could see from the woods, and that his parents would meet him. Tripp said his phone was almost dead and they hung up. As Gil and Jennifer dressed to leave, everything seemed manageable. Then, about 20 minutes later, a text arrived from Tripp's phone — a long, formal, paragraph-long message saying goodbye, expressing love, and apologizing. Jennifer says it sounded nothing like her son: the length, the phrasing, the formal tone were all completely foreign. She replied she was on her way and received more of the same. Eight minutes later, the parents arrived at the woods — and found nothing.
Tripp called his parents from the woods asking to be picked up — calm, not suicidal. Twenty minutes later, a long, formal text arrived from his phone that his mother says sounds nothing like how he ever talked or texted.
Gil and Jennifer arrived at the spot where Tripp's phone last pinged and found complete darkness: no son, no deputies, no patrol cars. They searched for hours by themselves using flashlights and Gil's own search grid.
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