SCOTTSDALE, AZ — It has been a little over a week since two teenagers were found shot and killed during a camping trip in the Mount Ord area. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office continues investigating the deaths of Pandora Kjolsrud and Evan Clark as suspicious, but no suspect has been identified.
With so many questions remaining, we are now learning more about one of those teenagers: Evan Clark. His father is sitting down exclusively with ABC15, opening up about what his son was like as a person and what this immense loss means to the community.
For Bill Clark, losing his only son is devastating. He says he will struggle to understand and come to terms with the 17-year-old’s death for the rest of his life.
Clark believes that will also be the case for many other friends and family members in his son’s circle, who were touched by Evan’s energetic, adventurous, and kind spirit.
“He had a lot of zest for life,” Clark said. “He's every parent's hope, and speaking as a father, he's exactly what I could hope for.”
By many accounts, Evan’s broad smile lit up a room ever since he was a baby.
“I know why he had so many friends,” Clark said. “He always had a lot of enthusiasm, and always brought a lot of energy to things too.”
Energy, his dad says the 17-year-old brought to all his passions: sports cars, photography, travel, even work. Clark says more recently, Evan fell in love with the outdoors.
“He got very involved with hiking and camping in the last year or so, and I encouraged it as much as I could,” Clark said.
That love of camping took him to the Mount Ord area over Memorial Day weekend to camp with his friend, Pandora Kjolsrud, 18.
“It seemed like any other trip,” Clark said, describing the night they spent together before Evan left. “We were putting dinner together, so we got to have dinner, and had a lovely chat.”
However, when Evan and Pandora did not come back Monday night, the families grew concerned.
Clark says he joined the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputies in the search.
“He had a very comprehensive first aid kit and survival equipment with him,” Clark said. “My optimistic side said, ‘they're probably just lost, or somebody twisted their ankle and they're down in some Canyon, shivering, and boy, are they going to have a story.’ And I was wrong.”
He never imagined the nightmare of the outcome: that Evan and Pandora would be found early Tuesday, shot.
“Nothing prepared me for this news. And I was there with the detectives, not seeing, thank God, what had actually happened, but I was present,” Clark said. “Every morning, and several more times each day, I have to remind myself that the most remote possibility actually occurred. He was a safe boy. He was risk-averse.”
As Clark grapples with a life cut short, he says he is spending time processing alongside Evan’s friends.
“He would want everyone to keep moving,” he said.
As they grieve together, Clark has given them some of Evan’s old baseball caps, hoping, despite immeasurable loss, they will push forward.
“I hope all his friends can keep being kids,” Clark said. “Be 17, be 18, be 19. Be careful. But live like... Evan was always very enthusiastic, so carry that.”
Shock continues to ripple through the community. Fellow students from Arcadia High School have built a memorial to their friends at a spot called Camelback View Point in Paradise Valley, where they say Evan and Pandora loved to watch the sunset.
“He always had a smile on his face, and he was always super nice to me,” one of Evan’s classmates told ABC15.
Dozens of high school students have paid respects at the memorial in the days since their friends’ deaths, gathering to grieve together.
Several teenagers who worked alongside Evan at Crumbl in Scottsdale are also heartbroken, according to the store manager, Lindsay Risher. His co-workers have put up a photo, a drawing, and messages to Evan. One reads “Best delivery driver,” and another, “Rest in peace, Evan.”
“That is the typical smile that we would see on his face when he was here,” Risher said, showing the photo. “We can kind of look at and remember how much fun he was. And he was great, a great, great kid. We miss him a lot.”
Risher says this is the first major loss many of her young co-workers at the store have experienced, including her own kids, who also work at Crumbl.
“They got very, very close. Those employees have had a really rough time with this,” Risher said. “There's been a lot of laughter and a lot of tears, and I think it's really starting to set in, just how tragic the circumstances are. How could anybody possibly do this to anyone, but let alone to him?”
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On Friday, Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan reiterated his plea for the public to report anything unusual they might have seen in the Mount Ord area over Memorial Day weekend.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a suspect at this point,” Sheriff Sheridan told ABC15. “That’s a pretty remote area. But there were other campers around, somebody saw something. So please let us know. Because the death of these two young kids is pretty tragic.”
Heading into his senior year, Evan’s dad says he planned to attend ASU.
“He was going to go to school and study something most likely in business. He had a great work ethic, too, so that would have lent itself to his future plans,” Clark said. “I have no doubt that Evan was going to go on to a lot of very good things.”
As Evan’s mother and Pandora’s family also face this tragedy, Clark opens his heart to them.
“They have my complete and ultimate sympathy,” he said.
As for what Clark would like to tell his son, if he still could, he says Evan already knew his message; because he never hesitated to tell him how much he loved him.
“I'm a Baby Boomer. Telling your dad you love him is not a thing. But I broke the rules with him a lot,” Clark said. “He knows. He knows I loved him very much."
