Valley Boy’s Disappearance Remains A Mystery 20 Years Later

It’s been 20 years since a little boy from La Quinta disappeared in the mountains above Palm Desert.

He was never found.

Syd Smith of Pinyon Pines says he was among the many who spent days searching for three year-old Travis Zwieg.

“Anybody with kids it’s stuck in their head. It stuck in my head because it wasn’t a successful search and how many people, how much time they spent doing it,” said Smith.

“I remember hiking around with my grandpa and little brother, looking around,” said Karl Schulz, who was only eight years-old at the time.

What really happened to Travis?

His parents took him on a weekend trip to a family friend’s cabin. One morning, his father was reportedly outside chopping wood. While his back was turned, the boy wandered off.

One theory was that he had been taken by a mountain lion. But that was soon disproved.

Some neighbors say the family took too long to notify authorities the boy had disappeared. And some of them got suspicious.

“What do I think personally? I think he was sold by his parents,” said Pinyon Pines resident Tamar Tweedie. “Supposedly they owed money to somebody. The bottom line is you have the fire station right down the road. If your kid took off would it take you two hours to get there?”

Some neighbors go so far to say the disappearance may have been the result of a drug deal.

“The people there were dealing in dope. The rumors that came out, why he disappeared is the people they owed the money to didn’t pay and they took the child,” said Paul Boggs, a neighbor.

Those who live in the area and remember the search say they’re still haunted by the memory of the little boy.

“I’d sure like to know what happened,” said Tweedie.