van was discovered near a remote forest area in Texas.
The vehicle was still there.
Riley wasn’t.
Inside were many of the belongings that would normally have traveled with her.
Her wallet remained behind.
Her phone was also recovered.
Personal items were still inside the van.
There was no obvious explanation for why she would leave everything behind.
The discovery immediately changed the investigation.
A missing traveler was one thing.
A missing traveler whose home-on-wheels had been left behind in an isolated area was something else entirely.
Investigators began examining the vehicle, the surrounding roads and Riley’s digital activity.
Her family arrived in Texas.
Volunteers joined the search.
Online communities began circulating her photographs and travel history.
The case was no longer confined to one police department.
It had become a national missing-person mystery.
Five years of questions
Theories appeared almost immediately.
Some people believed Riley had experienced an accident.
