Virginia Firefighter, Nicole Mittendorff. 

A more recent case, having only occurred in Spring 2016, in Northern Virginia where Fairfax paramedic/firefighter Nicole Mittendorff disappeared without a trace. 

After finishing her shift on Monday April 10th, Nicole vanished, not coming in for her next shift that coming Wednesday the 12th. Her car was then found in Shenandoah National Park near the entrance of the White Oak Canyon Trail, a number of miles away from the Appalachian Trail, on April 17th and her family assumed that she may have been using the running trail like she normally had for training. 

The Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group may have joined in on the search for Nicole as their searching expertise would have been needed in searching the woods of Shenandoah National Park. 

Nicole was found 300 yards off the White Oak Canyon Trail on April 21st, 2016. If no one had gone to search through the woods, she may have been lost forever and her family would never have the knowledge of what had happened to her.