Bumble Bee Road Murders

In October 2003, 20-year-old Brandon Rumbaugh and 19-year-old Lisa Gurrieri set out for a quiet night of camping in the Arizona desert. But when they failed to return home, their worried friends launched a search that led to a shocking discovery…

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North of Phoenix, Arizona are a number of abandoned mining towns... ghost towns, which were once home to dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of people, but have since been abandoned by the world. One such town, named Bumble Bee, was established in 1863 and named after the nearby Bumble Bee Creek, which was itself named because early travelers to the area described the local indiginous population as being as "thick as bumblebees." Their words, not mine.

In the years that followed, Bumble Bee turned into a stagecoach stop for westward travelers, and the U.S. Calvary - an offshoot of the U.S. Army - would even establish an outpost there. But as the years passed, stagecoaches fell out of fashion, and with them, so did Bumble Bee. Several attempts were made to turn Bumble Bee into a tourist town, but they all seemed to fail.

Yet a century after its collapse, the area surrounding Bumble Bee would become a scenic location for outdoor enthusiasts as the region surrounding Phoenix began to thrive. Bumble Bee, roughly an hour north, was a location that many would head to for hiking or stargazing, or even a place to take their offroad vehicles out into the desert... far enough away from the cities and suburbs that surround Phoenix.

One road, named after the ghost town itself, continues to serve as the perfect launchpad for many of these outdoor adventures, taking travelers away from Interstate 17 and out into the desert toward the Bradshaw Mountains. Yet it is here that a grisly murder took place more than two decades ago, which remains unsolved to this day.

This is the story of the Bumble Bee Road murders.

Brandon Rumbaugh, born in Phoenix on May 7th, 1983, was the only son born to his parents, Robert and Desiree Rumbaugh. He had one sister, Jessica, with whom he remained close with throughout his life, and he was described as a "joyful and goofy" child by his mother.

Having attended Coronado High School, Brandon was described as a natural performer, who enjoyed not only dancing but playing multiple instruments. He was the only male member of his high school's dance company, and played trumpet, trombone, and saxophone in the school band. He'd later play drums in a band while attending Arizona State University. Brandon's mother, Desiree, would tell the East Valley Tribune about both Brandon and his sister:

"Performing has been a part of their lives forever."

After graduating from high school, Brandon went on to attend A.S.U. He also served in the Marine Reserves, but was medically discharged after two years due to a knee injury he'd sustained. Deprived of his mobility for a brief period of time, Brandon continued to put more emphasis on his physical fitness, tacking on more muscle to his frame. Before long, he began working as a physical trainer, and dreamed of one day opening up a gym of his own. Brandon's father, Rob Rumbaugh, told the Arizona Republic:

"He would dream very big about having a grand gym expanding over time. When it didn't happen overnight, he didn't lose his dream."

Amidst the development of Brandon's career ambitions, he met a young woman at a nightclub, and the two would hit it off immediately. Before long, they were dating, and seem to have fallen deeply in love.

Born on July 14th, 1984, Lisa Gurrieri was about a year younger than Brandon. But like Brandon, she'd lived in the Phoenix area her entire life; specifically, in Scottsdale, along with her mother, Paula, and her two brothers, Neil and Denny. Sadly, her father would die of cancer when she was incredibly young, so she was raised by her mother. Her uncle, Mike, also took on a paternal role for Lisa, helping to raise her as if she were his own.

A graduate of Mesa High School, Lisa was attending Mesa Community College when she met Brandon in 2002. She also held down a job as a secretary for SRP, the Salt River Project, a Phoenix-area utility provider. While it’s a bit cliche, one of her coworkers, Sylvia Lopez, told the Arizona Republic:

"She would walk into the room and it would just brighten up."

Having been inspired by the 2001 film featuring Jennifer Lopez, Lisa planned to become a wedding planner after graduating from college. But she was giving herself the same timetable for getting married, telling anyone that knew her that she wouldn't even consider getting married until after graduating from college. That being said, it was evident to everyone that knew Lisa and Brandon that the two were head over heels for each other, with Lisa's mother, Paula Gurrieri, telling the Arizona Republic in 2003:

"The sun set and rose on Brandon. They would play a lot and tickle each other. He constantly had his arm around her or holding her hand... Both of them loved each other so so much."

In the summer of 2003, Brandon moved into Lisa's apartment, located along Scottsdale's E. Osborn Road. There, they'd live together for just two months, leading up to their first anniversary as a couple in October.

On Friday, October 17th, 2003, Brandon and Lisa made plans to celebrate their first anniversary as a couple. They'd tried making plans to go to Disneyland, but considering they were a couple of young college students, they weren't able to afford it at that time. Pushing that off into the indefinite future, they instead decided to just get out of the city for a night, heading out into the desert to camp. This was something they'd done early on in their relationship, and hoping to recreate one of their first dates, they hoped to stargaze and fall asleep in each other's arms that Friday evening.

That day, the young couple approached Lisa's mother, Paula, who owned a white Ford F-150. They asked if they could borrow the truck for the night, promising to bring it back the next day, Saturday. Brandon had work that day, so they needed to get back regardless. Despite her having been avoiding the oil change light on her dash, Paula gave in to her daughter's request, letting her borrow the truck that Friday... under the promise that they bring it back the following day, October 18th.

As hours passed that Saturday, however, it became clear that Lisa and Brandon weren't going to make their self-imposed deadline. Calls to Brandon's cell phone were met with a "no service" message, and the two lovebirds were nowhere to be found. Paula Gurrieri began calling around in the hopes of locating the two, including making calls to Brandon's family. His parents had no reason to be concerned, but thought that Brandon may have taken Lisa to elope in Las Vegas, since that seemed like something he might try and do as a romantic gesture. But after learning about the circumstances of his and Lisa's disappearance, Brandon's family began to grow concerned. That concern became a legitimate fear when Brandon failed to show up for work that Saturday. His family would check his bank account, discovering no activity on his account that garnered suspicion.

Paula, Lisa's mom, would tell the Arizona Republic:

"It wasn't like my daughter not to tell me if they decided to stay up there another night."

Eventually, Paula reached out to Mesa police, who in turn issued a statewide alert. But fearing that nothing resembling a search would be made for the two missing youngsters, their family members and close friends began preparing a search for them that weekend, hoping to narrow in on the location that Brandon and Lisa might have been headed that fateful Friday.

While the search for Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri started on Saturday, October 18th, it would begin in earnest the following day, Sunday. On October 19th, 2003, several loved ones of the young couple headed out to the area where they'd been headed nearly two days prior, a scenic area roughly one hour north of Phoenix, along a dusty, winding road that traverses through desolate stretches of desert and the Bradshaw Mountains.

The main road that cuts through this region is called Bumble Bee Road, which I touched on in the episode introduction. Running parallel to Interstate 17, Bumble Bee Road offers up more scenery and features many more twists and turns.

Brandon's father, Lisa's brother and uncle, and several of their friends were a part of this impromptu search party that began scanning through this area, hoping to locate any sign of them. Lisa's mother, Paula, later told the Arizona Republic:

"They were going down each and every little road that they could find."

In the early afternoon hours, a friend of Brandon's directed the vehicle he was in to a location that he and Brandon had reportedly camped at a few years beforehand. This location, approximately five miles south of the Sunset Point campground and two miles west of Interstate 17, was a remote location that was somewhat popular with visitors. And there, much to everyone's surprise, they found the white Ford F-150 that belonged to Lisa's mother parked in a sandy area just off of Bumble Bee Road.

As they approached the vehicle, though, they saw that the sleeping bags in the bed of the uncovered truck were occupied. Inside were the bodies of 20-year-old Brandon Rumbaugh and 19-year-old Lisa Gurrieri, who the friends originally thought were just sleeping. As they'd discover, though, they had already been dead for hours.

This group of friends would track down a nearby police officer, who began directing authorities to the scene.

The investigation into the murders of Brandon and Lisa was overseen by the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, who initially stated that there seemed to have been no sign of apparent trauma to either victim. They'd immediately backtrack on that, however, instead holding back on disclosing any specifics until the autopsy of the bodies was performed the day after their discovery: Monday, October 20th, 2003.

The autopsy would determine that both Brandon and Lisa had been killed some time between 7:00 PM on Friday, October 17th and 8:00 AM on Saturday, October 18th. Each had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso via a .25-caliber handgun, which was an odd choice for a crime like this, as .25's are small caliber weapons that aren't very common. The exact model of firearm used has never been disclosed, likely a piece of information withheld by investigators to whittle out potential leads. But investigators would note that the firearm itself was not recovered at the scene.

It's believed that Lisa and Brandon had either been sleeping at the time they were shot and killed, or were getting ready to fall asleep when their attacker came upon them in the bed of the pickup truck. Yavapai County Sheriff's Commander Tom Boelts would tell ABC 15 in 2023:

"There's evidence that Lisa probably woke up at some point, during the attack, but we can't say for sure right now."

As far as motive, investigators had little idea in the early stages of the case, and that doesn't seem to have changed much over the years. Despite two items missing from the scene - the vehicle's keys as well as a video camera (which we'll touch on later) - robbery did not appear to have been a motive. Neither of the victims had any drugs or alcohol in their system, and the absence of a firearm at the scene eliminated the possibility of murder-suicide. There was also no sign of sexual assault, leading to the belief that this must have been personal in nature. But the two had no known enemies or evil exes, so even that seemed theoretical at best.

Like a potential motive, evidence was also fleeting. Campers in the surrounding area said that the Ford F-150 had been parked at the location it was found in since at least Saturday afternoon, more than 24 hours before it was found by Brandon's and Lisa's friends. It might have been there since Friday, having been the place that the young couple decided to park and fall asleep in each other's arms, but witnesses couldn't verify that. Perhaps it had been driven there by the killer after committing the crime, but there was no apparent evidence indicating that. Police were unable to discover any suspicious tire tracks or footprints leading to or from from the crime scene, nor did they reportedly recover any shell casings.

The area surrounding the truck was maintained as best as possible by investigators, but even they admitted that the influx of campers in the area that weekend - numbering as many as a thousand - made it hard to trace leads to any one specific person. Similarly, witnesses that had seen anything suspicious were hard to come by, with the truck containing the bodies having just sat there in isolation for at least an entire day. Because the bodies were hidden in the truck bed, inside their sleeping bags, nobody in the area had reason to suspect anything nefarious was afoot.

Investigators would appeal for any of Brandon's or Lisa's friends and associates to contact them, as well as anyone that had been traveling along Bumble Bee Road between Friday afternoon and late Sunday. Yavapai Sheriff's Lt. Steve Francis would tell the public:

"Because this is such a popular weekend area and so many come here, we want the public's help if they were up here camping and saw anything at all."

Within one week, however, investigators would admit that their investigation was in a "holding pattern" as they waited for more evidence to begin filing in. An investigator would tell reporters just days after the crime itself:

"Do we believe that it was a random act and that there is a crazy person out there? Not necessarily. Can we rule it out? Not necessarily."

In the days that followed, Yavapai County Sheriff's officials would announce to the public that they were hoping to locate a man named Michael Villers, a 32-year-old resident of Phoenix whose black Ford F-150 extended cap was seen near the crime scene. Lt. Steve Francis would state in this public appeal:

"Villers is thought to have been in the area of the crime scene sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning and detectives need to speak with Villers. Villers is not a suspect, but is an investigative lead."

Police would insist that Villers was just one of six or seven active lines of inquiry, and was reportedly tracked down quickly after the public appeal and questioned. Susan Quayle, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said:

"At this time, he is cooperating... We're hoping he can provide us with some information."

It is unknown who or what connected Villers to the crime scene, whether a concerned witness reported his vehicle to police or if there were strange circumstances that led investigators to him. Like many things involving this case, it is unknown what happened or what Villers' potential involvement was, only that police felt it prudent to publicize this information in an attempt to track him down. However, they would insist that he wasn't a suspect, just an investigative lead, so make of that what you will.

In November 2003, just weeks after the deaths of Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri, Lisa's family would announce a $10,000 reward to anyone that provided information leading to the arrest or conviction of her killer. This reward stands to this day.

At around the same time, authorities would announce another possible lead. They'd state that they were hoping to identify and locate a man that had argued with Brandon in the doorway of his and Lisa's apartment the night before their impromptu camping trip, some time after 10:00 PM. It is unknown what this argument was about, but authorities would describe this man as being in his 40s, white, husky, and wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans at the time. It's not believed that this man was ever identified.

In the months that followed this crime, similar incidents led authorities to believe that this crime may be connected to others. Like the murders, these incidents involved two victims killed at the same time in remote locations, usually while camping or hiking, but the geographic area varied somewhat significantly.

The incident that seemed most similar took place not far away from where Brandon and Lisa had been shot and killed, in Crown King, just north of Lake Pleasant. Two men, William Middaugh and Omer Casey had taken their ATVs up to this area to ride around, and ended up camping overnight. Both were shot and killed, and their killer - a young man named Rusty Rankin - stole their vehicle. Police quickly narrowed in on his location, following him to nearby Colorado. Rankin, a 21-year-old native of Phoenix and son of a Phoenix police officer, barricaded himself inside a Colorado Springs hotel room and agreed to surrender to police, but before doing so, took his own life. Inside his hotel room, police found four handguns, including his father's service weapon, which was believed to have been the murder weapon.

At the time, police would state that they did not believe the Crown King killings were connected to Brandon's and Lisa's murders, but the death of the suspect likely played a major role in that. Rankin had no known connections to either William Middaugh or Omer Casey, and him having targeted them for death for no apparent reason made him a possible suspect in the Bumble Bee Road murders... something that investigators would admit years later during an interview with CBS 5 reporter Briana Whitney.

The next crime that bore a number of strange similarities to this crime was the shooting death of a young couple camping along a beach in Jenner, California. 26-year-old Jason Allen and 22-year-old Lindsay Cutshall were both shot in the head while sleeping in their sleeping bags in Sonoma County, and like the Bumble Bee Road murders in Arizona, there was no apparent motive. No sign of robbery, nor sexual assault. And the lack of a murder weapon made murder-suicide impossible.

Surprisingly, though, the murder weapon was determined to have been a .45-caliber Marlin Model 1894 long rifle, which was not common by any stretch of the imagination. Police hoped that publicizing the firearm type would lead to their killer, but it was years before police narrowed in their search on the killer. In 2017, police in California identified 38-year-old Shaun Gallon as Jason and Lindsay's killer, and he was ultimately convicted for that crime. However, it's unknown if he's even a suspect in the Arizona crime, considering all of his known crimes - which are many - took place in California.

Then there are the shooting deaths of Steven Haugen and Jeanette Bauman, two teachers that were killed while camping out in Oregon in 2005, roughly 25 miles away from their home in Oakridge. They, along with their dog, had been shot and killed from afar, then shot again at a closer range by an unknown killer. Like the others, no motive was ever determined, and their deaths remain a mystery to this day.

There there are the deaths of 56-year-old Mary Cooper and 27-year-old Susanne Stodden in 2006, a mother and daughter that were both shot in the head while hiking along the Pinnacle Lake Trail in Washington state, near Granite Falls. It's believed that their killer attempted to sexually assault them before growing frustrated and shooting them, seeing as both of their clothing had been partially removed. Many believe Israel Keyes was responsible for that crime, although I personally think that's bullshit... while I know that I covered Keyes early on in my podcast career, I kinda hate how an entire subgenre of the true crime industry has been built off of trying to turn him into the boogeyman and connect him to every unsolved crime in North America, giving him exactly what he wanted. He was a killer, no bones about that, but he was also a coward and was nowhere near the monster some desperately want him to be, a la Henry Lee Lucas. Anyhow, I'll step off that soapbox, sorry about that.

Because so little headway has been made in the Bumble Bee Road murders, it's unknown if there exists any possible connections to these crimes. But these were all possible connections explored by investigators as they attempted to gain some semblance of understanding in this frustrating case, months or even years after the fact.

By the one-year mark of the Bumble Bee Road murders, police in Arizona were stymied, claiming that the case was not yet nearing "cold" status but that they were struggling to identify the killer(s). Yavapai County Sheriff's Lt. James Jarrell would tell the East Valley Tribune:

"We've had several leads, and to date these leads haven't taken us where we had hoped."

In recent years, investigators have begun to share more of what they found at or near the crime scene, or rather, what they didn't find.

As I touched on earlier, only a couple of items were missing from the crime scene, leading to the belief that this crime hadn't been carried out in connection with an attempted robbery. But the two items found missing from the scene were intriguing to investigators. First were the keys to the truck that Brandon and Lisa were found in. Then there was a VHS video camera that the couple had borrowed from someone. It's case was still there at the scene, but the camera itself was missing. In the years since, it's not been located.

Strangely, though, there was an item found near the crime scene, roughly 100 feet away from the abandoned pickup truck. This was a broken disposable camera, which had been purchased by Lisa and Brandon just hours before their deaths at a grocery store in Scottsdale. Surveillance cameras captured them perusing the store and buying things they'd take with them on their overnight camping trip that evening, including the disposable camera.

Despite the camera being broken - likely thrown from the location of the truck to where it was later found by police - authorities were able to develop the pictures on it. It's unknown how many pictures had been taken with it, but two were pictures of the victims. In one picture, Lisa is seen sitting in the back corner of the pickup truck, smiling and posing for the camera. In another, Brandon is seen mean-mugging the camera, something I often do sarcastically whenever anyone tells me to smile for a picture. To me, it looks like two candid shots a young couple took while just goofing around, with the backdrop of the dark desert behind them. However, investigators speculate that these two pictures were taken just a short time before their deaths.

Also discovered in the camera roll was an overexposed image of a CFL light fixture, taken inside a building. It's unknown what building this was, but police at one point speculated it might have been a restaurant in Bumble Bee, which has since transformed into a different business. However, this remains unconfirmed years later.

I'll share the photos on the podcast website at unresolved.me, please check them out if you're interested in seeing them. If the picture of the light fixture looks familiar, please reach out to authorities.

After many years of this case fading into obscurity, it began to get picked up by news outlets in the late 2010s. With that came the new information about the stolen VHS camera and the recovered disposable camera. Lisa's family would go on the record with certain reporters and publications, and during these interviews, would share information about a potential suspect that they claim was ignored by the early investigators, despite their urging.

This suspect was a member of the group that went out to search for Brandon and Lisa that fateful weekend back in 2003. In an interview with CBS 5 reporter Briana Whitney back in 2019, Lisa's uncle, Mike Gurrieri, claims that this young man was friends with Brandon and infatuated with Lisa... to the point that he reportedly wanted to be with Lisa, romantically. Lisa's uncle, Mike, believes that this would have given the young man motive to target the young couple, since she had chosen to spend her life with Brandon.

During his interview, Mike Gurrieri claims that this young man moved out of town almost immediately after the murder, and eventually resurfaced up in Washington state. When investigators questioned him, they reportedly subjected him to a polygraph test, and when he passed, that was enough for them to clear him as a suspect.

At the time this information came to light in 2019, investigators claimed that a polygraph test shouldn't have been enough to clear this individual of any involvement. For that reason, they insisted that he - along with every other possible suspect - had not been cleared of suspicion. But the time that had already elapsed makes it likely that evidence has been disposed of, and that the possibility of connecting this man to the crime has likely faded with time. Assuming his guilt, of course...

While some believe that this crime was targeted in nature, there exists another possibility... one that I have posited in other cases in the past. To me, this is the most terrifying option: that the killing of Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri was inherently random, not beset by any personal grievance or standard motivation. But rather, that their killer(s) simply happened upon them and rolled the dice that they'd be able to commit this crime and get away with it; a gamble that has proven correct over more than two decades now.

Is it possible that some kind of random criminal or killer targeted them for possibly no real motive whatsoever?

During my digging into this case, I learned a bit about Joseph Henry Burgess, a New Jersey native that fled to Canada in the late 1960s to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War. After the U.S. Marines put out an active warrant for his arrest, Burgess became a fugitive from justice, eventually making his way out to British Columbia, where he settled into a hippie commune for a time. However, having attended a Jesuit college back in New Jersey, Burgess was a bit of a religious nut who quickly found himself excused from the commune due to his extremist viewpoints.

While Burgess was a bit odd, no one had reason to believe Burgess was a threat to others until 1972, when he was linked to the slaying of a young man and woman in British Columbia (in a crime that strangely resembles many of the others I've touched on this episode, including the Bumble Bee Road murders). 20-year-old Ann Durrant and 19-year-old Leif Karlsson were two young college students camping along a beach in B.C., sharing a tent and a sleeping bag while unmarried. This seems to have offended Burgess and his bizarre religious sensibilities, and using the .22-caliber rifle he carried with him, he shot the young couple in the head as they slept, killing both.

Afterward, Joseph Henry Burgess vanished abruptly, leaving behind fingerprints at the crime scene, as well as most of his earthly belongings at a campsite nearby. This included his ID, his shaving gear, and even his prescription glasses. His information was passed onto INTERPOL, and he became wanted for not just dodging the draft, but now murder.

Despite that, however, investigators in both Canada and the U.S. struggled to track down Burgess in the years to come, with him seeming to completely abandon his old identify, embracing a nomadic lifestyle that was completely off the grid. Occasional sightings would put investigators on his trail, but he managed to evade them completely for decades. For a time, police theorized he'd been responsible for the deaths of Jason Allen and Lindsay Cutshall off the coast of California, but that crime was later linked to another killer, Shaun Gallon.

Yet the manhunt for Burgess would begin anew in the mid-2000s, when it became clear that he had relocated from the Pacific Northwest to the American Southwest; in particular, to the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico, where he became known as the hilariously-named "Cookie Bandit," burglarizing cabins for food, alcohol, and other items. This ultimately led to a confrontation in 2009, when authorities conducted a stakeout at a cabin and waited for Burgess to make his move. He showed up a short time later and attempted to break in, leading to a physical confrontation between Burgess and police Sergeant Joe Harris, with Burgess pulling out a .357 revolver during the skirmish and shooting Sgt. Harris. Harris returned fire, and both men died at the scene.

An investigation would determine that the handgun Joseph Henry Burgess was in possession of had belonged to a New Mexico resident named David Eley, who had disappeared back in 2007. Investigators surmised that Burgess had killed Eley and stole his firearm, and that theory was proven correct when they discovered Eley's remains weeks after Burgess was killed. He'd been shot and killed with a separate firearm, which it's not believed authorities ever found.

Because Burgess was killed at the time of his discovery in 2009, there are entire years in his background that remain unknown to investigators: long stretches of time where no one really knows where he was or what he was up to. But based on his known behavior, it's unlikely that it was anything good. A retired RCMP officer that investigated the 1972 slaying that Burgess had been linked to told the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"It would appear from the end result of the incident down in New Mexico, he carried on with the same sort of lifestyle. There is good reason to suspect that there could have very well have been other (killings) between '72 and 2009 that he became involved in."

After murdering Ann Durrant and Leif Karlsson in 1972, it's unknown what Joseph Henry Burgress was up to, exactly. His whereabouts were pieced together through patchwork sightings by U.S. and Canadian witnesses, but it wasn't until the mid-2000s or so that he popped up again in New Mexico. In 2007, he killed David Eley, shooting and killing him and then stealing his firearm, which he used to shoot and kill Sgt. Joe Harris during a confrontation in 2009.

Is it possible that Burgess, a known outdoorsman, might have been in or near Arizona's Bradshaw Mountains in October of 2003? Considering that this location is 500 or so miles west of the Jemez Mountains, where Burgess later took up nomadic residence, I don't think it's a crazy theory. Maybe he stumbled upon Brandon and Lisa in their truck, and took offense at them snuggling while unmarried... the exact same thing he'd done back in 1972. Maybe this crime had compelled him to flee eastward toward New Mexico, where he later became known as the "Cookie Bandit."

And even then, maybe Joseph Henry Burgess wasn't involved. But the odds are high that this killer might have been someone just like him, who had no prior connection to the two victims but murdered them all the same.

It has been over two decades since Brandon and Lisa were unceremoniously murdered on the first anniversary of their relationship, their lives ended prematurely by someone that has managed to elude culpability for their involvement in this crime. Paula Gurrieri, Lisa's mother, said in 2017:

"There's no reason why these two kids that were loved by so many should be where they are. These kids are no longer breathing. They're in the ground somewhere. And the person that did this is out there breathing every single day... It's not fair. It's just not fair."

In that same Arizona Republic article, published fourteen years after the murder, Yavapai County's Sgt. Jamie Rothschild called for potential witnesses - or anyone with information, for that matter - to come forward:

"What you may perceive as a very small puzzle piece might work very well in the detective's overall picture of this investigation. So we need any information, whether it's seemingly insignificant or huge, all that information will help."

In more recent articles, investigators have hinted at the possibility of using modern-day forensic testing to help track down the killer, utilizing forensic samples from items at the crime scene, such as the victim's clothing and items from the vehicle that the killer may have interacted with. It's possible that the usage of genetic genealogy can help further narrow down the potential suspects, finally leading authorities to the person(s) that perpetrated this heinous crime.

Anyone with information in this case is encouraged to reach out to Yavapai Silent Witness. You can leave a tip anonymously at yavapaisw.com or call 800-932-3232. If so, you will be eligible for the $10,000 cash reward that exists in this case. So even if you feel like your information isn't pertinent, submit it to investigators regardless. This case might just need your information to put things together, and ten grand ain't nothing to slouch at. Help yourself to it and help the families of the victims obtain, if not closure for their murdered loved ones, then at least justice for their unsolved murders.

Until such a time, the stories of Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri will remain unresolved.

Episode Information

Writing, research, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan

Published on January 19th, 2025

Music Credits

Original music created by Micheal Whelan

Outro/theme music created and composed by Ailsa Traves

Sources and Other Reading

Video and Multimedia Coverage

ABC15. (n.d.). Old-time crime: Unsolved double murder at Bumble Bee campsite in 2003. Retrieved from https://www.abc15.com/news/crime/old-time-crime-unsolved-double-murder-at-bumble-bee-campsite-in-2003
YouTube. (n.d.). Video coverage: Bumble Bee murders. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNw4aLrO9bw

Social Media and Online Discussions

Reddit. (n.d.). The Bumble Bee Road Murders. Retrieved from https://old.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/vuui6v/the_bumble_bee_road_murders_a_couple_found_dead/
Reddit. (n.d.). Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri murders. Retrieved from https://old.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMysteries/comments/1c0tnai/in_2003_brandon_rumbaugh_lisa_gurrieri_were_found/
Websleuths. (n.d.). Case discussion thread: Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri murders. Retrieved from https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/az-brandon-rumbaugh-20-lisa-gurrieri-19-fatally-shot-in-pick-up-truck-bumble-bee-17-oct-2003.547842/page-2

Updates and Reward Notices

Fox10 Phoenix. (n.d.). $10,000 reward offered for answers in unsolved murder of Scottsdale couple. Retrieved from https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/10000-reward-offered-for-answers-in-unsolved-murder-of-scottsdale-couple1
Oxygen. (n.d.). Brandon Rumbaugh and Lisa Gurrieri cold case: Could a camera hold a clue?. Retrieved from https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/brandon-rumbaugh-lisa-gurrieri-cold-case-could-camera-hold-clue
ABC15. (n.d.). Mother hopes for answers nearly two decades after murder of Lisa Gurrieri, Brandon Rumbaugh. Retrieved from https://www.abc15.com/news/state/mother-hopes-for-answers-nearly-two-decades-after-murder-of-lisa-gurrieri-brandon-rumbaugh

Archived and Related Cases

Lynnwood Times. (2024). Pinnacle Lake murders and other related cases. Retrieved from https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2024/07/12/pinnacle-lake-240712/
KNAG. (2022). Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office continues to search for answers in 2003 cold case double murder. Retrieved from https://www.knau.org/knau-and-arizona-news/2022-10-17/yavapai-county-sheriffs-office-continues-to-search-for-answers-in-2003-cold-case-double-murder

Bumble Bee Road Murders

In October 2003, 20-year-old Brandon Rumbaugh and 19-year-old Lisa Gurrieri set out for a quiet night of camping in the Arizona desert. But when they failed to return home, their worried friends launched a search that led to a shocking discovery…

Episode Information

Episode Information

Music Credits

Sources and Other Reading

Official Documents

News Articles

Archived and Investigative Articles

Video and Multimedia Coverage

Social Media and Online Discussions

Updates and Reward Notices

Archived and Related Cases