Up until now, this blog has attempted to tell the story of Jack Gordon's mysterious disappearance on October 2, 2008 in broad strokes. There is a limited paper trail. A small handful of news reports and the original sheriff's incident report are the main reference sources. There are, however, other sources of information and we can try to fill in some of the gaps in the story from first-hand accounts and see if we can pick out any useful details.
I'd like to start with a timeline of that day, as well as we can reconstruct it.
October 2, 2008
8:00 a.m.- Between 8:00 and 8:30 that morning one of Jack's neighbors sees him leaving his residence in Fort Garland, coffee cup in hand bound for his home site on Luke Road for the morning.
8:30 a.m.- Jack leaves the apartment in Fort Garland in their white conversion van.
8:40 a.m.- One of the neighbors from Luke Road bumps into Jack at the Fort Garland post office and chats with him briefly. Nothing seems amiss.
8:50 a.m.- Jack stops in at the home of a local auto mechanic on Hwy 159 and speaks with him for a few minutes. He leaves at about 9:00 a.m.
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.- No reported contact with or sightings of Jack by any of the neighbors
1:00 p.m.- Jack's wife starts to wonder why he is not back yet.
2:00 p.m.- Jack's wife calls the auto mechanic's home and speaks to his daughter asking if someone can drive out to the place on Luke Road and check on Jack.
4:00 p.m.- Jack's wife gets a ride with one of her Fort Garland neighbors the ~5 miles out to Luke Road. The van is parked in its usual spot in the driveway, but there is no sign of Jack on or near the premises.
4:30 p.m.- Jack's wife goes to one of the neighbor's nearby homes and calls the Sheriff's office. The dispatcher contacts Deputy Jacob Vigil to respond.
5:00 p.m.- Deputy Vigil talks with Jack's wife at the scene and conducts a brief search of the house and vicinity. He spots a single set of footprints that "went to the back of the house and around the other side and onto the road where I lost track." He is unable to identify any distinct tire tracks on the road. We think he tried to make contact with the neighbor John Busby during this time, but that is not specified in the incident report. He advises Jack's wife to contact him if she has not heard from Jack by 8:30 p.m. She returns to Fort Garland.
7:30 p.m.- Jack's wife contacts me (as well as other family members to inform us that he is missing.
8:30 p.m.- Jack's wife contacts Deputy Vigil, informing him she has not heard from Jack
9:00 p.m.- Deputy Vigil and a small group of neighbors search the area around the house on Luke Road on foot, with flashlights, find no trace of Jack.
10:00 p.m.- Deputy Vigil speaks with Jack's wife in Fort Garland and advises her to contact the sheriff's office at 8:00 a.m. the next day if Jack has not turned up, so that Search and Rescue can be mobilized to join the search. On his way back to the Sheriff's office Deputy Vigil returns to the house of the neighbor John Busby (aka John Robert Fureigh) and attempts to contact him. There is a chain across the driveway and there are no lights on at the house.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS-
1. Who made the single set of footprints? Jack? One of the civilian searchers? Jack's wife? Jack's killer? Or perhaps Deputy Vigil (remember Winnie the Pooh and Piglet?)
2. What happened during the time gap from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.?
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