Located in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, the Tonto National Forest is known for its rugged terrain, majestic scenery, and abundance of wildlife. It is common to see black bears, bobcats, and cougars traversing the terrain; far less common is seeing large vehicles trekking through Tonto. In May 1995, several campers were aghast to see an eighteen-wheel semi-trailer barreling through the forest.
Tonto is the Spanish word for fool and for some, the odd encounters with the “fool in the forest” were peculiar; for others, they were unnerving.
The trucker was identified as twenty-nine-year-old Devin Williams. Two years later, his skull was found in the forest. Like his actions, the forest trucker’s cause of death is still a mystery.
Devin Williams
Devin Williams drove for the Flint Hill Transportation Company and Tomco Trucks in Emporia, Kansas, ten miles southeast of his home in Americus and one-hundred-twenty miles southwest of Kansas City. His supervisors considered him one of the company’s most dependable drivers, and friends say he was a devoted husband and father to his wife, Mary Lou, and their three children.
The Williams Family
On May 23, 1995, Devin headed west along a route he had driven many times. He delivered his load on schedule in California then picked up a refrigerated shipment of lettuce and strawberries for his return trip to Kansas City. Devin checked in with his boss, Tom Wilson, who did not detect anything out of the ordinary.
The following evening, Devin arrived in Kingman, Arizona, and telephoned headquarters again. He said he was frustrated at being unable to sleep but was still eager to get back on the road. Again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
By May 28, however, Devin was anything but ordinary.
Delivery As Scheduled
That morning, campers in the Tonto National Forest near Kingman were shocked to see a ten-ton semi-truck erratically barreling through the woods and on one occasion nearly running over a vehicle.
A group of picnickers later came upon a barefooted man in a field standing outside the stalled eighteen-wheeler. When Charles Hall asked the man, identified as Devin, what he was doing, he muttered several incoherent words. The only words Charles he could make out were “I’m going to jail.”
Charles Hall
Later that afternoon, the Cococino County Sheriff’s Department investigated campers’ reports of a forty-eight-foot semi marooned in a meadow near Forest Service Road 137 in the Buck Springs area approximately twenty miles from Arizona State Highway 87. When they arrived, they found the truck’s cargo, 1200 boxes of lettuce and strawberries, intact and undisturbed. The refrigeration unit was running, the doors were locked, and the inside of the truck was clean. Nothing at the scene suggested foul play.
Police confirmed the truck was Devin’s but could find no sign of him. His briefcase was in the truck, but his duffel bag and audio tapes were missing.
Another trucker for the Flint Transportation Company removed the truck from the forest.
Deputy Dean Wells
Coconino County Sheriff’s Department
The following day, May 29, campers Jack and Lynn Yarrington came upon a man, sitting by a tree along Forest Service Road 321. He seemed to be trying to start a fire as he had a $20 bill in his hand and was hitting it with a rock. The man appeared discombobulated as he was babbling “I got to light the grill” before throwing the rock at the Yarringtons’ car.They were the last people to see the agitated man, whom they also identified as Devin Williams.
Lynn Yarrington
Search and rescue teams comprised of the Sheriff’s Department, canines, foot patrol, and off-road vehicles found no sign of Devin in the Tonto National Forest.
On May 2, 1997, however, nearly two years later, hikers discovered a human skull on the Mogollon Rim in Gila County, near the intersection of Forest Service Road 321 and Rim Road 300, approximately a quarter mile from where he was last seen. Dental records confirmed it was Devin’s. An autopsy found suggestions of trauma to his skull, but the cause of his death could not be determined.
Investigators conducted a search of the area but found no other remains or items of clothing.
Devin’s Skull Is Found . . .
Devin Williams’ disoriented behavior and incoherence prompted suspicions he was on drugs, but he did not have such a history and had recently passed a series of drug tests. He drank some, but his behavior in the forest seemed more indicative of a person with mental problems than alcoholism.
As Devin had reported having sleeping problems shortly before his disappearance, he may have been so exhausted from the long hours on the road that he was not thinking clearly. In addition, he was a mild diabetic and may have suffered an episode in conjunction with his insomnia which led to his erratic behavior. Some have suggested carbon monoxide poisoning as a possibility; I could not find anything stating if any detections of it were found in the truck.
Several reports of UFO’s (unidentified flying objects) were also recently reported in the area and some “ufologists” believe his strange actions are connected to the sightings.
No suggestion of foul play has been found in the death of Devin Williams. His cause of death remains unknown.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82605539/devin-eugene-williams
. . . But His Death Is Still A Mystery
Following the discovery of Devin’s skull, Mary Lou filed a Worker’s Compensation Claim against Flint Hill Transportation Company and Tomco Trucks, arguing her husband’s death resulted from the course of his employment as an over-the-road trucker. The claim was denied by an Administrative Law Judge in July 1999 and upheld by the Appeals Board for the Kansas Division of Workers Compensation in November.
Newspapers refer to the company as the “Flint Hill Transportation Company and Tomco Trucks.” The court records list the company as “Flint Hill Trucking Company and Tomco Trucks.”
Mary Lou’s Workers Compensation Claim Is Rejected
Act II, Scene 7, William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
I bet this had something to do with it – “he was a mild diabetic and may have suffered an episode in conjunction with his insomnia which led to his erratic behavior.”
It’s so sad to not know what really happened.