WOT

The hiker who hinted at tension between Avery and Janet prefers to remain anonymous, so I will refer to her as Leslie.

Leslie went on a Kings Canyon hiking trip Avery and Janet had led in late spring, about three months before the fateful Deadswitch trip. Backpacking in the spring in California can be tricky because of the elevation. When most of the state feels like summer, the Sierra Nevadas may still be inundated with snow. The year 2016 was no different.

"We hit snow on the first day," Leslie says. "Most of us were comfortable with winter hiking, but we didn't have the right gear. Avery was supposed to do the research on the trail and had told Janet everything would be clear. The sun was setting, and we were still a couple of miles away from where we were supposed to make camp. Janet laid into Avery in front of everyone, and Avery... she just slapped her. Right across the face. And then she turned around and kept trying to find her way through the snow like it was nothing. Janet was still holding her cheek in shock. None of us knew what to say. I had never seen Avery act that way toward anyone."

After the premature ending to the trip, Avery apologized to Leslie over text for causing a scene. She explained she hadn't been herself lately and had been losing sleep over an online stalker.

"I didn't question it," Leslie tells me. "She had the type of life that made her vulnerable to creeps. It's difficult being a woman on the internet."

Leslie isn't wrong, and one quick glance beneath any comment thread on an Avablade video proves it. But when mentioning my conversation with Leslie to the detective, he tells me they uncovered no evidence she was being stalked.

This is also new information to her father.