Chilling mystery figure seen hiding in bushes in last picture of missing hiker | World | News

One hiker captured a disturbing final photograph to send to his grandmother, potentially revealing his killer hiding in the bushes behind him.

The figure was dubbed the “shadow man.” Other walkers on the now closed Hawaiian “stairway to heaven” maintain they heard an eerie sound at the precise moment 18-year-old Daylenn Pua disappeared on the route he was walking. The aspiring pastry chef was never seen again.

He came from a large family, one of seven children. His grandmother told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “He always lights up the day.”The infamous trail closed its gates following the profoundly disturbing missing persons case in 2015, reports the Irish Mirror.

Daylenn was last seen on 27 February, 2015, while walking the Haik Stairs, according to SFGate. The site has its origins in World War Two history, when the steel step structure was constructed as an access point to US Navy communication installations on the island of O’ahu.

The 3,922 steps weave their way across the mountain range, creating a spectacular route. However, it was thought the teenager travelled through Moanalua Valley rather than ascending the stairs, as he had referenced it in one of his final Facebook comments.

Through the valley two trails lead to the rear of the stairway trail. Ethan Pearson-Pomerantz, president of Oahu Search and Rescue said: “There’s the ridge trail, which is the popular way to do it, and then there’s the valley trail, which is the less popular way. In 2015, the junction of those two trails, the ridge and the valley trail, was not super well marked. And it is entirely possible that he went the other way.”

Daylenn had been forwarding his grandmother photographs of the picturesque locations along his route. In an unsettling twist, one of the final images he sent her appears to capture a man crouching in a bush behind him.

Once the shadowy figure was noticed, speculation rapidly mounted, with many people believing the man was real and somehow linked to the teenager’s disappearance.

Search teams concentrated their efforts on a narrow ridge after a group of hikers, who claim to have been on the Haik Stairs simultaneously, reported hearing a cry for help at the precise moment Daylenn vanished.

One Reddit user, Dclandry, claimed to have heard the sound. He wrote: “I could never explain to you the feeling I felt when you hear a cry like that. The hiker did not trust pass and go up the stairs. By the looks of the photographs, he didn’t ever make it to the stairs.

“The hiker went up the Moanalua way. I’m not a local so I don’t really know any of the name of the ridges, all I can do is try my best to explain to others where we went and where it was that we heard him.

“We started the hike on a trail about 20 feet from the Kulana’ahane trail. We had hiked about three hours up.

“We were yelling to each other to make sure the others were okay because we were so far apart. The wind died down for just a half a second and we hear a scream ‘help me!'”.

So alarmed by what happened, the group contacted 911 for help, and when rescue teams turned up, further ‘screams’ were reportedly heard.

“I’m down here!” the group of five were said to have heard, though they couldn’t determine precisely where the sound was originating from.

“The wind was so bad and the clouds are starting to roll in so it was hard to hear anything. My friend and I that heard the last cry, are heading up the ridge tomorrow the same way that we went Monday.

“It’s hard to explain where the location was that we heard it, as well as where the voice was coming from.”

Daylenn’s family remain adamant that he was attacked and fell victim of foul play – but nobody ever came forward about the supposed shadow man.