Jason Landry: Texas student missing after wrong turn on his way home for Christmas, cops find blood near car
SAN MARCOS, TEXAS: A college student has not been seen for weeks after he went missing while setting off towards his parents’ house for Christmas. Jason Landry was last seen on December 13 after he drove towards Houston from San Marcos. He vanished after he crashed his vehicle and on Saturday, December 26, Texas EquuSearch announced that the search operation for Landry has been halted till law enforcement officials find a specific area, The Sun reported.
The 21-year-old, who had to drive 165 miles before reaching his destination, reportedly took an incorrect route and got injured on Salt Flat Road parallel to Highway 86. His car was discovered by a first responder in a ditch by a fence about 30 minutes away from the Texas State University in San Marcos. The responder also found his phone, wallet, and other personal items—as well as a small amount of blood.
Some clothes of Landry were found scattered outside the car. Texas EquuSearch and Texas Search and Rescue also searched the vehicle and the area nearby for the young man. Dogs even traced his scent to a pond but could not find Landry.
The student’s father, Kent, earlier told Fox 7: “I don’t know why my son was down this road. My best guess, he will follow Waze wherever it sends him. He was coming home from college, but he was here on this road. I don’t know if he was trying to avoid a deer or what, swerved and hit some trees on the side. We know he got out of the crash OK, and was walking back, this way, and that’s the last we know for sure.”
A few days after Landry disappeared, Texas Department of Public Safety’s Sgt Deon Cockrell said: “Right now we have no indication of any foul play at all, we don’t know if maybe somebody picked him up or if he just wandered to an area where we haven’t searched or found yet.”
In another incident, a teenager froze to death after his satellite navigation showed the wrong turn, which resulted in him being stranded along with his co-passenger in the world's coldest inhabited area for a week. Sergey Ustinov lost his life after Google Maps instructed him to turn on Russia’s notorious Road of Bones onto a deserted shortcut and the temperature dropped to -50 degree celsius.
Along with Ustinov, his friend Vladislav Istomin was also there, but he miraculously survived. Istomin was in severe condition after suffering from acute hypothermia. The victims were left stranded after a wooden spike on the snow-covered road damaged their radiator. They were not wearing clothes that suited the extreme weather and thus suffered frostbite. The duo was discovered inside their Toyota Chaser.
Health professionals are now working hard to save Istomin’s life. “His condition is extremely grave, we are fighting for his life,” a doctor said. Ustinov and Istomin were reportedly driving through the world’s coldest city Yakutsk to the port of Magadan, on a Stalin-era highway known as the Road of Bones.
“A policeman went to Tomtor, because there was information that they were seen there. He started searching with two local residents, and at night they found the car. The men tried to keep warm and burned a tyre. But apparently, they couldn't make a big fire. And they couldn't remove the rest of the tyres.”
“They were city guys. That’s why they wore trainers. Now it is very cold here, not yet -60C but at night and in the morning it reaches -57C, and during the day it warms up to -51C,” an Investigative Committee official Nadezhda Dvoretskaya stated.