Turns out that student was actually a 35-year-old man who had robbed over 30 people in forests and abandoned areas, targeting drivers late at night. I had chills when I saw that he had been wanted by the police in several states. His methods were chillingly clever—he’d either pretend to be a lost hiker to hitch a ride or pick people up in his own car. After gaining their trust, he’d rob them of everything and leave them stranded in the middle of nowhere. o this day,
we don’t know why he didn’t rob us. Maybe it was because there were two of us, or perhaps because I was tall and muscular, which might have intimidated him. Whatever the reason, we were incredibly lucky to have walked away unharmed.
