Laura Vogel had recently moved to Maui, although she had been living in Hawaii for 9 years. She loved the outdoors, and in fact, had a master’s degree in wildlife biology. She made a living in Maui being a tutor and spent all her free time either surfing, camping, hiking, or bird watching.
Maui seems like the perfect place for Laura Vogel.
On February 21, 2010, Laura spent the afternoon at a friend’s house. When she headed out later that afternoon, she told her friend she was heading up to the Pauleheh Lighthouse area, on the north end of the island, to camp under the stars for the night.
At 8:20 p.m., she texted her friend that she was camping near the birthday pools and meeting some locals.
Laura would never be seen or heard from again.
Where is Laura Vogel?
Laura was a single woman, 43 years old, back in February of 2010. She hailed originally from New Mexico and had gone to college, receiving a master’s degree in Wildlife Biology. She became a high school teacher, and even today, many students come forward on their Facebook page to mention how great of a teacher Laura was, one of those teachers who leaves a lasting impression on a student.
When Laura was 34, she followed her dream to relocate to Hawaii, moving to the island of Oahu first.
In the late Summer of 2009, Laura moved to the island of Maui.
She made a living by tutoring students and was very responsible when it came to her job. She enjoyed what she did, and it afforded her to be able to live a less stressful lifestyle on the islands.
On Sunday, February 21, 2010, Laura was visiting a friend. She left her friend’s house around 5:30 p.m. and said she was heading to the north end of the island to camp out and sleep under the stars for the night.
Laura had a tutoring client appointment the next morning, Monday morning, at 9:00 a.m. She knew she could be home in time for that, and was looking forward to just enjoying the beauty of that part of the island.
Laura was specifically headed to the area near Pauwela Point Lighthouse. This is a beautiful scenic area of the island, with of course the lighthouse, an observatory, many trails to hike and steep cliffs right up against the ocean.
While Laura did love to hike, her friend said she only had a pair of flip-flops, and wasn’t looking to do any hiking, more like some relaxing and just enjoying the views for the night.
Laura made it to the spot where she planned to camp, and around 8:20 p.m., sent her friend this text message:
“ I’m camped down the way from the birthing pools and meeting all the locals”.
Now, I was curious about these birthing pools, but couldn’t find a whole lot of information on them- specifically the ones near the Pauwela Lighthouse where Laura was. There are others on the island, but apparently, those near Pauwela are not encouraged to visit.
One reviewer on Tripadvisor had this to say when someone posted and asked for advice on swimming and visiting these birthing pools:
The question is asking about the cliffside pools near Pauwela. If so……….please don’t try to go there. First, it’s not a very tourist-friendly area. Second, the ground is treacherous. Third, you have to trespass to get to the ocean. Fourth, the pools are very probably NOT birthing pools, as Ancient Hawaiians rarely chose to give birth in a dangerous rocky area.
The next morning, Laura misses her tutoring appointment, and that day friends and family can’t reach her. Right away people start to worry because Laura keeps in contact with everyone very regularly. Not to mention, she would never miss a tutoring appointment.
When the family learned that Laura never returned home from her campout, they contacted the Maui Police. The family stated that the Maui P.D. told them to wait 24 hours and then to call back.
The family didn’t want to wait, and friends on the island were alerted that Laura was missing and they decided to search for her themselves.
They headed up to the north end of the island, near the Pauwela Lighthouse and Birthing Pools where Laura said she had been, and found something disturbing.
Right where she said she was, they found Laura’s van. There are confliction reports of which door was left wide open- some say it was the driver’s side door, and some say it was the passenger side door- but in any event, one of the doors was left wide open.
Inside the van, they found keys in the ignition and Laura’s laptop on the back seat. They couldn’t find Laura anywhere.
Friends immediately called the Maui police, who came to that area to investigate.
A search of the area by Law Enforcement turned up nothing. They took the van in for processing and bought in search dogs, which combed the area for four days.
During that time, about two days after the van was found, a search turned up Laura’s cell phone nearby, broken into pieces.
When they examined the cell phone records, they learned that right after Laura sent that text message to her friend, letting her know where she was, her phone made a few calls, in quick succession, to one number and hung up. Further investigation led detectives to a homeless transient man who lived in that area. The phone number belonged to him.
When questioned, however, he said he had no idea who Laura was, nor did he know why her phone called him a few times.
Authorities determined the man had been fishing with some other transient people about half a mile east of Vogel’s van on the night of her disappearance. He denied having been involved in her case and took a polygraph, but authorities stated he was uncooperative during the exam and it was inconclusive. Police searched his campsite and vehicle and found nothing of interest.
The family would learn during the weeks that followed her disappearance, as they all worked together to try and find Laura, that the area she was known to be in, was not necessarily considered a safe area. And that brings me back to that TripAdvisor review, where someone local mentioned that exact same thing in her post.
The area was known to be heavy into drugs and crime, and not a place for tourists, or outdoor enthusiasts, to go camp.
Did Laura not know this, being that she was only on Maui for 6 months? Or did she simply not care, believing she could take care of herself? We may never know what her thought process was.
Shortly after the investigation began, authorities would release Laura’s van back to the family. Her brother, Tim, has remained active in finding his sister, even started a blog to keep everyone informed on developments, and has worked the media circuit as best as he can.
He told Jane Valez-Mitchell during an interview, that when he received the van back, he decided to look through it himself. And within a minute of looking, Tim found Laura’s wallet, in the console of the van.
The problem with this is the authorities had stated from the beginning they didn’t have the wallet couldn’t find it, and it was likely lost or stolen. This led the family to do searches through Laura’s financial records, looking for any activity on bank accounts or credit cards. When the wallet was discovered to have been in the van all along, all those hours of searching records for clues were wasted. The family was not happy.
Did law enforcement just miss finding the wallet? Or was there a breakdown in communication somewhere? Again, it’s hard to speculate when the police department hasn’t come forward to explain. I don’t want to point fingers, but I think it’s a question the family deserves answers to.
On March 19, 2010, almost a month after Laura disappeared, Texas Equuseach sent an expert over to Maui to help in the search.
The family also hired RP Search Services, which brought in drones and other search technology.
The police did speak to everyone in the area, with a concentration on the homeless encampment nearby. No one recalled seeing Laura at all. While this isn’t helpful to the investigation, the family feels that is odd, that not one person can recall seeing her there.
The police came to their conclusion regarding Laura Voegel, and her family came to theirs.
This leads us to the two theories in Laura’s disappearance.
Theory #1: Laura had an accident off of one of the many, dangerous spots along the cliffs and shoreline in the area where her van was found, near Pauwela Lighthouse.
Law Enforcement has stated that they believe this is very likely. It’s a dangerous area, and Lauran was thought to be wearing only flip-flops. A hike to those cliffs could have been a bad decision on her part, slipping off the edge, and falling to the rocky waters below. In many areas, the drop is 50–60 feet, with many jagged edges and rocks in the ocean. She could have fallen into the waters and met her demise.
But then what about her van? Well, some think that maybe one of the homeless in the area opened her van door and rummaged around, looking for something, possibly drugs.
But why not steal her laptop which was in wide-open view?
And why would Laura leave her keys in the ignition?
While these questions make a lot of people wonder, authorities are quick to point out, that it doesn’t necessarily mean that foul play was involved.
They have found no evidence of something nefarious happening at the van and nothing to tie her to the other homeless man, the one with the phone, other than those random calls.
Laura was the adventurous type. While her friends and family maintain she had no intention to hike that day, we can’t be sure she just didn’t decide to take a quick walk somewhere. Being in flip flops could have been detrimental to her hike, and led her to have a fall, in a very rocky and dangerous area.
But then we have another theory.
Theory #2: Laura met with foul play. Authorities might be quick to point out that there is nothing to lead them to believe foul play, family believes this is the more likely theory. They say Laura was far too knowledgeable to try a dangerous hike, on her own, in flip-flops. She was very athletic and knew how to handle herself in the outdoors.
And maybe even more importantly, she never would leave her keys in the ignition and her laptop out in plain view.
Her family has been quick to question law enforcement too and doesn’t feel that Laura’s case has been given the due diligence it deserves. The phone calls to the transient man, for example. Why hasn’t he been looked into further?
There was no history of Laura ever calling this man before, or anything to indicate the two even knew each other.
It just doesn’t make sense.
What do you think happened to Laura Vogel?
Laura is described as a Caucasian female, 5’8” tall, and weighing around 145 pounds at the time she disappeared. She was 43 years old and would today be 55 years old.
She was last seen wearing a blue shirt and grey sweatpants.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Laura Vogel, please contact the Maui Police Department at (808) 244–6400 and refer to case number 10–14126.
