Bolivia

September 2007

Peace Corps volunteer Walter Poirier disappeared in Bolivia in 2001. Once he was determined to be missing, a search was conducted, but that effort shed no light on where he went or what had happened.

In September 2007, the National Park Service (NPS) was asked to develop and conduct a large-scale search for Walter’s remains. This renewed effort involved numerous search and rescue experts from the NPS (to include Todd) as well as representatives from the Peace Corps, FBI, US Department of State, Bolivian National Police and other entities. The 2007 search focused on a series of steep and remote drainages in the Zongo Valley of Bolivia. These drainages were between 8-12,000 feet in elevation and required rappelling, climbing and a lot of work with machetes to search. 

Todd subsequently had a story published in the Appalachian Mountain Club journal, Appalachia (Summer/Fall 2008), about this unsuccessful 2007 search effort.