On Feb. 23, a Geneseo alumni, Travis Sackett ’08, was reported missing two days after embarking on a hike up the Imbabura Volcano in Ecuador. Since then, numerous expeditions in search of him have been conducted by both police and independent search teams.
Sackett has served on multiple AmeriCorps and Peace Corps terms before and was in Ecuador awaiting another Peace Corps mission in South America prior to his disappearance. A conglomerate of those close to Sackett, including friends, family and those who worked on missions with him, have made exhaustive efforts to locate him. This included creating a very successful GoFundMe campaign, a Facebook group dedicated to posting updates and stories about him, as well as posting on various parts of the internet including Reddit.
“I think the best thing we can do is raise awareness about what’s happening, particularly in Western New York where his family is,” Jennifer Ko, a life-long friend of Sackett, said in a phone interview.
The traction this effort has gained has been immeasurable. The GoFundMe, posted by Cassie Toulet-Crump on February 28, easily surpassed its $1,000 goal aimed toward doubling the reward money Sackett’s parents were offering to anyone who finds Sackett. As of March 16, $11,610 has been raised, quadrupling the original $1,000 reward to $4,000. The additional donations will be directed toward the search for Sackett.
“I started [the] GoFundMe thing just to match what [Sackett’s parents] were offering,” Toulet-Crump said in a phone interview. “Then luckily a lot of people donated, and we were over $10,000 which is great because we’ve used that money to bump up the reward and we’ve been able to hire local guides to lead searches.”
Local guides have been important in the search when police cannot perform any, as has been the problem recently with poor weather marring attempts to initiate such searches. There have been three searches conducted by police for Travis, however, intervals between them have been lengthy. After two searches conducted on Feb. 25 and 26, there was almost a week-long hiatus until the third one occurred on March 4. Since then, no other expeditions have been conducted.
“There was a long pause between [Feb. 26] and the next search which happened on March 4,” Ko said. “And that pause is pretty frustrating to [Sackett’s] friends and family. So, if we can continue to raise awareness [about] what’s happening and ensure that the U.S. government and the Ecuadorian government can know that this is something that many people are concerned about. I hope that means they’ll continue to work hard to get any news on Travis.”
This has led to the reliance on 12 local guides to conduct searches in the volcano, among them a group called Lobos Trekking has been at the forefront of searching for Sackett. Additionally, the group hired a team that uses dogs trained in finding people which began searching on March 10 and 11.
Updates of these searches can be found on the Facebook group, “Help Us Find Travis / Ayúdanos a Encontrar a Travis” (or @FindTrav), dedicated to finding Travis. The group has accumulated over 350 followers and is a critical foundation to the search effort.
In fact, the dissemination of this information through the Facebook group has also countered misinformation. A rumor about Sackett being kidnapped was quickly dispelled in a post on March 9 that said “there is NO evidence of a kidnapping. We know Travis was in the volcano and we're all doing our best to find him.”
These efforts, led by friends and family, exemplify the importance of advocating for those missing in a foreign country, a necessity according to Toulet-Crump.
“When someone goes missing, you really need a strong collective effort to advocate for that missing person because there doesn’t seem to be much that the U.S. embassy can do” Toulet-Crump said.
According to a March 9 post on the Facebook page, another police search for Sackett will occur at some point next week. Any information regarding the whereabouts of Sackett should be directed to local police as well as the Facebook group.
“Local police or our Facebook page where they can drop us a message,” Toulet-Crump said. “Really the best place is the Facebook page so one of the administrators will be able to cash it,”
“I would encourage them to also try to raise awareness on social media, reach out to Chris Jacobs and ensure that he knows this is something that the Geneseo community cares about deeply. This is one of their alumni,” Ko said. “And reach out to contacts that they may have in Ecuador to continue to spread the word.”
If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe you can click here, if you want to contact the Facebook group you can click here.