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Hutch Member
Joined: 18 Jun 2009 Posts: 638 | TRs | Pics
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Hutch
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Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:53 pm
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Parents always told us horror stories about awful things that happened out the Middle Fork growing up, but blechhh
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/illegal-gingerbread-house-in-mount-baker-snoqualmie-forest-stocked-with-food-bedding-and-child-porn/
Quote: | Illegal ‘gingerbread house’ in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest stocked with food, bedding — and child porn
Originally published March 19, 2018 at 6:00 am
It took a curious state employee six tries before he could find the long-rumored cabin deep in the woods. Once he did, the disturbing images he found inside touched off a monthslong FBI investigation that led to a Mill Creek man.
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By Sara Jean Green
Seattle Times staff reporter
After hearing rumors for years about an illegally built cabin in a remote area of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, an employee with the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) set out to find the place.
On five different occasions, the employee searched the forest on the western slope of the Cascade mountain range east of North Bend but failed to find any sign of the cabin that had long been talked about among hikers. Finally, on his sixth try, he came across the elaborate treehouse with a wraparound porch and glass windows in November 2016.
What he found inside — framed photos of naked young girls and an envelope stuffed with more sexually explicit images of children — set off a monthslong federal investigation that led to a Mill Creek man.
But it wasn’t until after investigators matched DNA found on items inside the cabin with a DNA sample from a discarded paper cup that charges were filed against Daniel Wood, 56. A search of Wood’s Mill Creek condo turned up thousands of additional images, mostly of girls ages 8 to 12, an FBI agent wrote in charging papers.
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Wood, who doesn’t have a criminal record, was charged last week with two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He was issued a summons to appear in King County Superior Court for arraignment on March 26, court records show.
Judge Mariane Spearman also ordered Wood not to have “any contact with minors without exception,” court records show.
Phone calls to a number listed under Wood’s name went unanswered.
It is unknown whether the cabin still stands or has since been dismantled.
Charging papers say there is no obvious indication who built the cabin, nor do they spell out why the cabin was deemed illegal. However, authorization to build in a national forest must be granted by the U.S. Forest Service, according to the agency’s website.
According to the charges:
As of late 2016, the existence of the cabin had been known to Forest Service officials for about seven years and had last been inspected by them in 2013 or 2014 — and at that time, “there were no images in the cabin,” charging papers say.
The state DNR employee “had heard rumors in the hiking community of this cabin, and decided to try and find it,” the charges say.
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On Nov. 18, 2016, he found the cabin and confiscated a couple of the images mounted to the walls inside. The employee reported his find to the King County Sheriff’s Office and later guided a detective through the woods to the cabin’s remote location, miles up the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, charging papers say.
The detective would later describe the cabin as “an elaborate tree house that resembled a fairy or gingerbread house.”
Built about 8 feet off the ground, the dark-brown cabin had a porch that went around the structure, a front door, windows and a pitched roof, and was accessed by a ladder. Inside, the detective noted there was a bed, bedding, clothing and basic supplies including food, dishes, candles and a variety of knickknacks.
“On all four walls were framed pictures of fairy-like figures or what appeared to be young girls,” with two in particular featuring “what appeared to be young girls, approximately 8-12 years old,” an FBI agent wrote in charging papers.
An envelope found on a bookcase contained more images: “Some of these appeared to be fictional, but there were several that contained images of young girls naked or scantily-clothed,” according to charging papers.
The detective confiscated the envelope and contacted the FBI in Seattle because the cabin was in national forest land under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service.
Last April, FBI agents searched the cabin and concluded many of the photos were sexually explicit images of children, the charges say. But there were no obvious clues as to who had built or used the cabin, so the agents seized numerous items that were then sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, to be tested for fingerprints and DNA.
A couple of days later, agents spoke with a King County Search & Rescue volunteer with extensive knowledge of the forest. He said he’d been to the cabin on numerous occasions and had once seen an SUV parked at the trailhead that leads to the cabin, and provided the FBI with a license-plate number.
The number led the agents to Wood, and they set up surveillance at his condo, where a black BMW motorcycle was also parked. They took DNA samples from the motorcycle’s handlebars, say the charges. They also took a paper cup that Wood had drank from and left behind while under surveillance.
DNA from the handlebars and the paper cup matched DNA found on a coffee mug and drug paraphernalia taken from the cabin, according to the charges.
In February, the FBI searched Wood’s condo and seized several digital items, including a memory card that “contained thousands of images of child erotica and child pornography,” the charges say. Agents also reported finding several photos depicting the interior and exterior of the cabin and the path leading to it. |
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cambajamba Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 339 | TRs | Pics
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OMG was this the FJ Cruiser that was always, ALWAYS parked where the old CCC road would dip down to the road at the curvy bits before turning back into a trail? I think it was silver? It's the only vehicle I can remember seeing virtually every time I went up the road, that's about 10 miles up from town I think and they stopped parking there at some point before last summer. Yikes!
Also - stories mentioned that hikers knew about this, but I've never heard a peep from anyone - where the hell did the "legend" start?
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cambajamba Member
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Chief Joseph Member
Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 7676 | TRs | Pics Location: Verlot-Priest Lake |
Wow, reminds me of an old saying, "Truth is Stranger than Fiction"!
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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caseynw Member
Joined: 27 Jun 2008 Posts: 91 | TRs | Pics
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caseynw
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Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:50 pm
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On all our trips out to goldmyer or the campground, I never would have thought. I vaguely remember this vehicle once. It’s not unusual for people to park and go for a hike, so of course you don’t think much of it.
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fourteen410 Member
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
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cambajamba wrote: | I think it was silver? |
No, per the FBI, it was maroon.
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cambajamba Member
Joined: 05 Nov 2011 Posts: 339 | TRs | Pics
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Oh interesting! I couldn't remember the color very well - but we would always drive past that parking spot on our way to our swimming hole and used to think man, that truck is always parked here, must be a fellow middle fork enthusiast...*shudder*. To think about all the times I've been up that road having a nice woodsy day while God knows what was going on just up the road.
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Bootpathguy Member
Joined: 18 Jun 2015 Posts: 1787 | TRs | Pics Location: United States |
Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
Experience is what'cha get, when you get what'cha don't want
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Hutch Member
Joined: 18 Jun 2009 Posts: 638 | TRs | Pics
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Hutch
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Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:58 am
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
The old stories like Hansel and Gretel or The Pied Piper wer based on seril killers and molesters of the day. Cautionary tales.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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kbatku Questionable hiker
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 Posts: 3330 | TRs | Pics Location: Yaquima |
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kbatku
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Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:36 pm
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Interested in the construction - were the boards hewn onsite or packed in? Seems to be a major undertaking either way - how long was it there - any idea?
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ThursdayHiker Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2014 Posts: 60 | TRs | Pics
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I actually stumbled on that creepy treehouse back in 2015 while romping around off trail to find old growth trees. It is in a really difficult to find place with only a faint crude path leading to it. The deck has dozens of odd latin inscriptions. There are strange symbols carved into the eaves. Inside there are symbols of satin worship and vials of "Bats Blood Ink" and "Doves Blood Ink". There was a small library of books on topics of magical herbs, witchcraft, fairies, and a copy of JRR Tolken's Two Towers. There are lots of images of naked forest nymphs hanging on the walls. They looked to me like cartoon images and they weren't sexual in nature so I wasn't even considering that it could be child porn. That is a very creepy place.
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contour5 Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 2962 | TRs | Pics
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contour5
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Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:45 pm
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Quote: | I actually stumbled on that creepy treehouse back in 2015 while romping around off trail to find old growth trees. It is in a really difficult to find place with only a faint crude path leading to it. The deck has dozens of odd latin inscriptions. There are strange symbols carved into the eaves. Inside there are symbols of satin worship and vials of "Bats Blood Ink" and "Doves Blood Ink". There was a small library of books on topics of magical herbs, witchcraft, fairies, and a copy of JRR Tolken's Two Towers. There are lots of images of naked forest nymphs hanging on the walls. They looked to me like cartoon images and they weren't sexual in nature so I wasn't even considering that it could be child porn. That is a very creepy place. |
So it was sequentially a celtic/wiccan/goth/manga enthusiast hangout until some pedo freak started dumping his pron stash out there? That might explain how the FS could have reconnoitered the place multiple times over several years without expunging it.
Still curious about the satin worship, though. What's up with that? Next thing you know, these kooks will begin sporting velvet. Or corduroy.
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fourteen410 Member
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
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contour5 wrote: | So it was sequentially a celtic/wiccan/goth/manga enthusiast hangout until some pedo freak started dumping his pron stash out there? That might explain how the FS could have reconnoitered the place multiple times over several years without expunging it. |
According to the FBI report, as of November 2016, "the structure had been known by Forest Service employees for approximately seven years...the last time the structure had been examined by federal forest personnel was approximately 2-3 years ago. At that time, there were no images in the cabin."
Pictures of the cabin's construction were also found at Daniel Wood's residence, so I believe the assumption is that he constructed it himself.
The report describes a pretty disturbing scene inside the cabin, with graphic photos of little girls hung all around the interior. Ugh.
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Pahoehoe Member
Joined: 12 Oct 2017 Posts: 563 | TRs | Pics
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Pahoehoe
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Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:30 am
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Why didnt they tear it down when they first discovered it several years ago?
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