David Burgert: Montana Criminal who evaded police after a car chase into the forest, missing since 2011.

Hi all! I've never made a post here before, so I hope I'm doing this right. I heard about this case on a tv show (The Hunt with John Walsh) and no one's posted about it here before, so I thought I would.

A brief summary of the relevant parts of Burgert's life:

Burgert's family and friends say that when he was younger, he wanted to help people. He decided a good way to do this was to enlist in the Marines, but he returned a more aggressive man.

In 1985, Burgert broke into a trailer to eat a sandwich, where he accidentally left his loaded gun behind. He later called the police to see if he could get his gun back (which is... an interesting decision), but instead they arrested him and he got a 4 year prison sentence. After his release, he tried to join a search and rescue team, but his criminal background prevented that.

This seems to be a turning point, which, compounded with his previous experiences, leads him to feel like the police are his enemy and he needs to keep them in check.

In 2002, an FBI investigation discovers that Burgert was leading a militia group known as Project 7, and that the group had amassed a large stockpile of weapons that were meant to be used to "keep the government in line". The weapons included illegal machine guns and over 25,000 rounds of ammunition, and this led to several group members, Burgert included, to be arrested on federal weapons violations. This time, Burgert is sent to prison for 7 years.

Flash forward to 2010, around the time when Burgert has been released. He seems to have taken up residence at a campsite in Lolo, Montana, and is once again illegally stockpiling guns. In 2011, someone calls 911 to report suspicious activity because Burgert's Jeep had been parked in the area for a prolonged period of time. Officers arrive at the scene, leading Burgert to get in his car and head west on Highway 12. He takes a turn onto Graves Creek Road, a one-lane road that heads into Lolo Forest. At this point, officers become aware that he is likely trying to isolate them in the forest, so that he can shoot at them. Eventually, he pulls over and does exactly that. He begins firing at the officers, who return fire, but when they approach the car, they find he has disappeared into the forest. Despite an extensive search involving local and federal authorities, no trace of him is found. They don't believe he escaped with much more than a gun and whatever else he had on him at the time.

Over 5 years later, no trace of him has been found. Some officers believe he has to be dead, because they don't think he could stay under the radar for this long. Others believe he's alive, just because no remains have been found and he obviously had a group of likeminded people who would be willing to help him as a fugitive of the government.

There haven't been any updates since he's disappeared, and the most recent articles are mostly from 2014. I know the "missing persons" posts in this subreddit are usually about victims, not criminals, but I thought this case was pretty interesting so I wanted to share. Also, it never hurts to give a fugitive's face more visibility.

Personally, I think it's sort of funny that his first run-in with the law was so preventable, as he might not have been arrested had he not called the police to ask for his gun back.

Here's one of the best articles about his history: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/crime/2014/06/13/montana-fugitive-david-burgert-still-missing-years/10429293/

And here is his "Wanted" info from the U.S. Marshals: https://www.usmarshals.gov/district/mt/fugitives/pdf/burgert.pdf