As the fifteenth year since he went missing passes, the disappearance of Stuart Isaac remains an open wound for his family and a perplexing puzzle for investigators. The story of the 48-year-old Burtonsville, MD resident is not one of a simple outing gone wrong, but of a man who seemingly embarked on a spontaneous journey only to vanish into the vast and untamed wilderness of Yellowstone National Park.
Stuart Isaac, a native of the Pacific Island nation of Palau, was living in Burtonsville, MD with his family in 2010. He was described as standing between 5’8″ and 5’10” and weighing between 215 and 230 pounds. He had black hair and brown eyes, and distinctive tattoos on his right tricep and on each shoulder blade. By all accounts, he was not an avid hiker or camper. The timeline of his disappearance, as pieced together by investigators, is as follows:
• September 6, 2010: Isaac left his home in Burtonsville, leaving behind a note for his family stating he was going on a cross-country trip. The note did not specify a return date. He departed in his black 2009 Lexus IS-250 with vanity license plates that read “BELLEK.”…