Hi Park enthusiasts, I'm your host, Dillia DeAmbra, and the story I'm going to tell you about today

takes place in the heart of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia

at a clearing in a narrow valley between those two monstrous woods named Calwell Fields.

Calwell Fields itself is technically inside of Jefferson National Forest, but it overlooks sections of the George Washington Forest too.

The quiet recreation area is split into two separate fields and is bordered by a lot of trees and a meandering stream called Craig Creek.

The road that you pull off up to enter the area is actually named after the waterway, Craig Creek Road.

If you're walking or camping in the fields, you can look up on either side and you'll see that you're flanked by both National Forest lands.

It really is an amazing spot and one that attracts thousands of visitors each year,

particularly in the summer months when the days are long and the night skies are clear.

A lot of people who visit the fields are students attending Virginia Tech, a college about 20 minutes away in the city of Blacksburg.

On the evening of August 26th, 2009, that's what David Mezzler and Heidi Childs were doing.

They were two Virginia Tech sophomores who pulled their car off of Craig Creek Road to enjoy watching the sunset over the forest,

but they had no idea that a predator was lurking as they looked on.

This is Park Predators.

On the afternoon of August 26th, 2009, Laura and Donald Childs picked up their phone.

On the other end was their 18-year-old daughter Heidi.

It was pretty common for Heidi to call home during the week.

Classes had just started back up at Virginia Tech two days earlier, and Laura figured her daughter was just calling to check in and talk about how the beginning of the first semester was going.

But Laura and Donald could barely get in a word on the call as Heidi spouted off some exciting news.

She told them that she decided on her major.

She was going to pursue a degree in pre-med studies and wanted her mother to know.

Heidi's mom had homeschooled the family's eight children, and Heidi felt her mom would be proud to know that all those years of science and math that she taught her were going to be put to good use.

...