On October 2, 2008, Jack Nels Gordon disappeared from the face of the earth. I mean he literally disappeared. To this day, now almost twelve years later, no trace has ever been found. This blog will explore different aspects of adult missing persons, particularly those where violent crime is suspected. Future posts will give links to news articles related to Jack Gordon's disappearance or similar/related cases as well as relevant statistics or other interesting information.
Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label Costilla County. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Costilla County. Show all posts
Saturday, October 2, 2021
ALAMOSA VALLEY COURIER- FORT GARLAND MAN MISSING SINCE OCT 2 2008
When Jack Gordon disappeared in 2008 there was no television news coverage. There were no satellite trucks with reporters doing live feeds. There were no somber faced talking heads reading the spine-chilling details on the six o'clock news. There were just a few short paragraphs in the Alamosa Valley Courier published almost a week after his disappearance.
No foul play? We shall see.
Full article:
Costilla County Sheriff information officer Sgt. James Chavez confirmed that Jack Gordon, 77, has not been seen since approximately 9:30 a.m. Oct. 2, near Fort Garland. Chavez said over the last three days the search for Gordon has included elements of the Costilla County search and rescue unit and rescue dogs from Fort Carson.The whole report was succinct, with not much in the way of facts. Within a short time the mystery would deepen.
[Sgt.] Chavez said that as of Wednesday morning, Oct. 8 the investigation has not involved the FBI or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. There is no evidence of foul play at this time, said Chavez
No foul play? We shall see.
Full article:
Fort Garland man missing since Oct. 2
Posted: Wednesday, Oct 8th, 2008
ALAMOSA — The Costilla County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a search for a Fort Garland man missing since Oct. 2.
Costilla County Sheriff information officer Sgt. James Chavez confirmed that Jack Gordon, 77, has not been seen since approximately 9:30 a.m. Oct. 2, near Fort Garland. Chavez said over the last three days the search for Gordon has included elements of the Costilla County search and rescue unit and rescue dogs from Fort Carson.
Chavez said that as of Wednesday morning, Oct. 8 the investigation has not involved the FBI or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. There is no evidence of foul play at this time, said Chavez, and the CCSO has concentrated the search on backcountry in Costilla County.
Chavez said he has received two reports that someone closely matching Gordon’s description was seen recently in the Walsenburg area. One of those tips was received Oct. 7 and the other on the morning of Oct. 8.
Gordon’s country home in Costilla County sits at the western foot of 9,400-foot La Veta Pass and the town of Walsenburg, in Huerfano County, is located at the eastern base of the pass.
Huerfano County Under Sheriff Dave McCain contacted the Costilla Sheriff’s office, said Chavez, and reported that he saw a man of Gordon’s description near the I-25 exit 49, near Walsenburg. A private citizen told the CCSO that he was “99.9 percent sure” that he saw Gordon in Huerfano County. Chavez is trying to confirm the sightings, determine where theytook place and if they do relate to Gordon.
According to a flyer issued by Gordon’s family he is described as 77 years old, 6’ 2” tall, is stoutly built, weighing 235 pounds. Gordon has a shock of white hair and a short, white beard and mustache. He was last seen wearing a grey, zip-up hooded sweatshirt and jeans. Gordon uses reading glasses but does not wear them all the time.
Gordon’s wife Leni Gordon said he has no history of mental problems or lapses. She said Gordon is an ordained clergyman, but if he wanted to conduct a retreat he would have gone to their home, which is under construction in the Sangre de Cristo Ranches subdivision of Costilla County. It appears that Gordon disappeared from that location. His van was found parked at the country home, but his car keys and a coffee cup he had when last seen are both gone.
Leni Gordon said there was no evidence of foul play, no footprints leading into remote country and no sign of a struggle at the home. She said she knew of no reason for her husband to disappear. “We have two children he loves very much. He would never take off and leave them. He would be gone for two hours and come home and say ‘I missed my family and I wish you could have been with me.’ He would say he missed us when he was only gone two hours,” Leni Gordon said.
Anyone with information on Gordon’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Costilla County Sheriff at (719) 672-0673.
THE LAY OF THE LAND- Part 1
Let's gradually zoom in on the scene of the events in question, using Google Earth ™ mapping services.
Jack Gordon disappeared on October 2, 2008 in Costilla County in south central Colorado about 80 miles north of Taos NM, 30 miles east of Alamosa CO and 50 miles west of Walsenburg CO.
Located in south central Colorado, the San Luis Valley is a high mountain plain bounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east and the San Juan Mountains on the west. The valley comes to its northern apex at Poncha Pass just south of Salida. At its southern end the valley merges into northern New Mexico.
Alamosa is the largest town in the Valley. Highway 160 traverses the San Luis Valley from La Veta pass in the east to Wolf Creek Pass in the west. Costilla County is the southeasternmost of the five counties in the San Luis Valley.
The northeastern part of Costilla county contains the subdivided Forbes Ranch, including the Sangre de Cristo Ranches.
The Ranches are traversed by a dense network of dirt roads and are comprised of several thousand five-acre ranchette lots. One of these lots is the site of Jack Gordon’s home building site on Luke Road. This is the general setting of the Mysterious Disappearance...
ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/7/2012
RE-POSTED 10/29/2012
THE LAY OF THE LAND- Part 2
Let's zoom in for a little closer look at the terrain surrounding Luke Road. (NOTE: Refer to the Lay of the Land- Part 1 and Search and Rescue for a wider frame of reference.) If we swing around to the north and look back in a south by southeasterly direction we can see the main portion of Luke Road as viewed by Google Earth:
I have cobbled together an amateurish photographic panorama of this same view from almost the same perspective:
To the left (east), you can see the cul-de-sac with Jack's roofline and Big Bear's place across the way. Back toward the right (west) you see the neighbor John's place and the mid-portion of Luke Road.
Here is a closer look at the cul-de-sac:
Jack's house is on the left of this view, Big Bear's to the right of center. Between those two is another neighbor's house.
And here is a close-up of Jack's rough-hewn house, sitting atop a small knoll surrounded by pinon pines and sagebrush:
This is about the stage of completion it was at when Jack disappeared.
I have cobbled together an amateurish photographic panorama of this same view from almost the same perspective:
Here is a closer look at the cul-de-sac:
And here is a close-up of Jack's rough-hewn house, sitting atop a small knoll surrounded by pinon pines and sagebrush:
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Based on the initial presumption that Jack Gordon had suffered some type of medical event, our first efforts focused on the immediate vicinity of the house on Luke Road, in rural Costilla County on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley.
Within about 36 hours of the time Jack was last seen, leaving his apartment in Fort Garland to drive out to the homesite on Luke Road, Costilla County Search and Rescue was on the scene. On Friday October 3, 2008 a general area quadrant search was undertaken by several team members on ATV's and on horseback, covering about a one mile circular perimeter centered on Jack's homesite. The searchers focused on roadways and trails, not much off road searching was done. No trace of Jack was found.
On Sunday, October 5, 2008 a close interval line search was carried out by about 30-40 volunteers under the direction of the SAR team covering a radius of about 1/3 mile without results.
On Monday, October 6, 2008 an air tracker dog team was brought in and performed a search for about a 1/4 mile perimeter. No trace of Jack was found away from the house. Individual searches were also carried out on two other five acre properties that Jack owned in the area, with no trace.
These satellite views from Google Earth ™ mapping services show the general area of the events. For a wider perspective, check here.
On this map, the dark red square is an approximation of Jack's five-acre property, the pink inner circle is the area covered by the close interval search, and the lighter outer circle is the approximate perimeter covered by the general area search (one mile radius from Jack's place).
The second pushpin is the house of Jack's neighbor John, who was mentioned in the original police report. That house is just over 1/2 mile from Jack's house. Oddly enough, the neighbor John disappeared from the Fort Garland area on the saame day Jack disappeared. His mother told the Sheriff that he moved out of the state. We don't know if the Sheriff ever contacted him. We don't know if he knows anything about that day.
Within about 36 hours of the time Jack was last seen, leaving his apartment in Fort Garland to drive out to the homesite on Luke Road, Costilla County Search and Rescue was on the scene. On Friday October 3, 2008 a general area quadrant search was undertaken by several team members on ATV's and on horseback, covering about a one mile circular perimeter centered on Jack's homesite. The searchers focused on roadways and trails, not much off road searching was done. No trace of Jack was found.
On Sunday, October 5, 2008 a close interval line search was carried out by about 30-40 volunteers under the direction of the SAR team covering a radius of about 1/3 mile without results.
On Monday, October 6, 2008 an air tracker dog team was brought in and performed a search for about a 1/4 mile perimeter. No trace of Jack was found away from the house. Individual searches were also carried out on two other five acre properties that Jack owned in the area, with no trace.
These satellite views from Google Earth ™ mapping services show the general area of the events. For a wider perspective, check here.
On this map, the dark red square is an approximation of Jack's five-acre property, the pink inner circle is the area covered by the close interval search, and the lighter outer circle is the approximate perimeter covered by the general area search (one mile radius from Jack's place).
The second pushpin is the house of Jack's neighbor John, who was mentioned in the original police report. That house is just over 1/2 mile from Jack's house. Oddly enough, the neighbor John disappeared from the Fort Garland area on the saame day Jack disappeared. His mother told the Sheriff that he moved out of the state. We don't know if the Sheriff ever contacted him. We don't know if he knows anything about that day.
INTRODUCING JACK'S NEIGHBOR JOHN
According to the Costilla County Sheriff's office, Jack's neighbor identified in the original incident report as John, was living under the name of John Busby. That turns out not to be his real name. The sheriff has identified him as John Robert Fureigh, born 3/03/1967.
Here's what he looked like in 1993, in Florida.
And he's up to #10 on a certain Colorado Bureau of Investigation's sex offender top 100 list.
Fureigh relocated to the San Luis Valley sometime around 2006 and began building a house on a five-acre property owned by his mother on Luke Road in the Forbes Sangre de Cristo Ranches, roughly 3/4 of a mile from Jack Gordon's homesite. Fureigh was never interviewed by the authorities following Jack's disappearance. He currently has multiple outstanding felony warrants from various jurisdictions. For all I know, he saw the hubbub of Sheriff's Department vehicles along Luke Road that day in 2008 and left the area in order to avoid being apprehended on a prior warrant.
I am interested to know if Fureigh, being a close neighbor, has any first-hand information about the events of October 2, 2008. Did he see Jack Gordon along Luke Road that morning? Did he have a conversation or argument with Jack? Can he comment on Jack's state of mind? Did he see anybody else with Jack? Does he know what happened to Jack that day? Does he have any idea where Jack's body might be? Did he hear gunshots? Would he be willing to talk to the sheriff by phone? Would he be willing to provide information that might clear him of any possible suspicion in this matter, allowing the sheriff to focus on more likely suspects? Unless he comes forward, these questions will remain unanswered.
Interestingly enough, Big Bear was not the only neighbor of Jack's on Luke Road who kept a blog. The neighbor Fureigh also was a blogger of sorts. More about that in a future post.
Here's what he looked like in 1993, in Florida.
And he's up to #10 on a certain Colorado Bureau of Investigation's sex offender top 100 list.
Fureigh relocated to the San Luis Valley sometime around 2006 and began building a house on a five-acre property owned by his mother on Luke Road in the Forbes Sangre de Cristo Ranches, roughly 3/4 of a mile from Jack Gordon's homesite. Fureigh was never interviewed by the authorities following Jack's disappearance. He currently has multiple outstanding felony warrants from various jurisdictions. For all I know, he saw the hubbub of Sheriff's Department vehicles along Luke Road that day in 2008 and left the area in order to avoid being apprehended on a prior warrant.
I am interested to know if Fureigh, being a close neighbor, has any first-hand information about the events of October 2, 2008. Did he see Jack Gordon along Luke Road that morning? Did he have a conversation or argument with Jack? Can he comment on Jack's state of mind? Did he see anybody else with Jack? Does he know what happened to Jack that day? Does he have any idea where Jack's body might be? Did he hear gunshots? Would he be willing to talk to the sheriff by phone? Would he be willing to provide information that might clear him of any possible suspicion in this matter, allowing the sheriff to focus on more likely suspects? Unless he comes forward, these questions will remain unanswered.
Interestingly enough, Big Bear was not the only neighbor of Jack's on Luke Road who kept a blog. The neighbor Fureigh also was a blogger of sorts. More about that in a future post.
THE MYSTERY OF TWO MEN'S DISAPPEARANCE ON THE SAME DAY
Crime reporter Kirk Mitchell of the Denver Post picked up the story of Jack Gordon's disappearance in June 2010. Read the whole thing here:
Here are a couple of excerpts:
Just one of those things that happens.
Here are a couple of excerpts:
Did they leave together? Did they both choose to coincidentally disappear on the same day? Or did one or both of them meet with foul play that night?
The only evidence left behind was a dark stain found on the dirt driveway leading to Fureigh's home. But even that has a mystery attached — the sheriff, strapped for time in patrolling a 1,200-square-mile county — didn't test the spot to see whether it was blood, or, if so, whose. "It's real frustrating. We don't have enough evidence for a search warrant of his place," said Costilla County sheriff's Lt. James Chavez of Fureigh's home. "It's just one of those things that happens when someone goes missing."
Just one of those things that happens.
THE MYSTERY OF TWO MEN'S DISAPPEARANCE ON THE SAME DAY- REVISITED
I am going to post some links expanding on the curious disappearance of Jack Gordon. Let's start with the 2010 Denver Post article entitled "The Mystery of Two Men's Disappearance on the Same Day"
When I originally posted the link to this Denver Post article back I did not excerpt very much content. As I re-read that original post I realize that it did not really give much of the story. Mr. Mitchell of the Denver Post summarized the Jack Gordon case very well. I am going to now provide a more extensive excerpt from that story in order to help round out my readers' understanding of the case.
(NOTE: Let me clarify one little detail. Jack had seven adult offspring from previous marriages. He "left behind" his most recent wife and two young children aged six and five at the time. )
READ ON:
MORE:
Since that day, (October 2, 2008) no trace of Jack Gordon has ever been found. John Fureigh left his home on Luke Road the same day, never to return. Why would he leave a home that he had spent 2 1/2 years building with his own two hands? There have been rumored sightings of Fureigh in the hills of the Forbes Trinchera Ranches since that day, but he is not living in the area openly. Did they leave together? Did their paths cross on that fateful day? Was there a confrontation of some sort between the elderly Jack Gordon and the much younger Fureigh? Did somebody else kill Jack and Fureigh was a witness, hiding in fear for his own life? It is a certainty that somebody knows what happened.
We have heard through the grapevine that Fureigh's mother still lives in the area. Perhaps she knows of a way to get a message to her son, asking him to come forward and clear his name. If either of them is reading this post, they can contact the blog administrator anonymously by e-mail at seamus_muldoon@yahoo.com and let us know their side of the story. Maybe there is a rational explanation for what happened.
My suspicion is that the only way we will ever know what happened to Jack Gordon that day is if the burden of knowledge weighs so heavily on the one who knows that he can no longer bear to look in the mirror day after day. Rather than taking that knowledge to his grave, perhaps he will feel the need to tell somebody what he knows. Until that day, the man who killed Jack Gordon will fester in the rot of his own corruption. Ultimately God will pass judgment, even if the local authorities do not.
When I originally posted the link to this Denver Post article back I did not excerpt very much content. As I re-read that original post I realize that it did not really give much of the story. Mr. Mitchell of the Denver Post summarized the Jack Gordon case very well. I am going to now provide a more extensive excerpt from that story in order to help round out my readers' understanding of the case.
Two men, retired preacher, sex offender — vanish on same day in '08
On Oct. 2, 2008, 77-year-old retired preacher Jack Nels Gordon disappeared from his land in Costilla County, leaving behind a wife and seven children. That same day, Gordon's neighbor, a convicted sex offender named John Fureigh, also disappeared from the area, leaving nothing behind but questions. Did they leave together? Did they both choose to coincidentally disappear on the same day? Or did one or both of them meet with foul play that night? The only evidence left behind was a dark stain found on the dirt driveway leading to Fureigh's home. But even that has a mystery attached — the sheriff, strapped for time in patrolling a 1,200-square-mile county — didn't test the spot to see whether it was blood, or, if so, whose.
(NOTE: Let me clarify one little detail. Jack had seven adult offspring from previous marriages. He "left behind" his most recent wife and two young children aged six and five at the time. )
READ ON:
What is known is this:
Fureigh was living in Costilla County under the alias John Busby. And he had a good reason for using it. He bought a 5-acre parcel in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains to escape an active warrant for his arrest out of El Paso County for failing to register as a sex offender.
MORE:
On the last day anyone saw him, Gordon announced he was headed to Luke Road and walked out to the driveway of their duplex apartment in Fort Garland, coffee cup in hand, and climbed up into his old white van. He waved good-bye to his family for the last time about 8:30 a.m. Gordon stopped by the post office, headed south on Colorado 159, then stopped at a local mechanic's house to discuss work on the van. It was the last confirmed sighting.
Gordon also had indicated he needed to speak with Fureigh, who was helping him design a website for people living in countries with no religious freedoms. Fureigh's house, which he also built himself, was about a half mile from Gordon's home. When Gordon didn't come home by his customary 2:30 p.m., his wife caught a ride to the house and searched for him. She found his van, but no sign of Gordon. She called the sheriff's office, but when an officer mistakenly thought she said Gordon normally came home by 2:30 a.m., a search was delayed.
Since that day, (October 2, 2008) no trace of Jack Gordon has ever been found. John Fureigh left his home on Luke Road the same day, never to return. Why would he leave a home that he had spent 2 1/2 years building with his own two hands? There have been rumored sightings of Fureigh in the hills of the Forbes Trinchera Ranches since that day, but he is not living in the area openly. Did they leave together? Did their paths cross on that fateful day? Was there a confrontation of some sort between the elderly Jack Gordon and the much younger Fureigh? Did somebody else kill Jack and Fureigh was a witness, hiding in fear for his own life? It is a certainty that somebody knows what happened.
We have heard through the grapevine that Fureigh's mother still lives in the area. Perhaps she knows of a way to get a message to her son, asking him to come forward and clear his name. If either of them is reading this post, they can contact the blog administrator anonymously by e-mail at seamus_muldoon@yahoo.com and let us know their side of the story. Maybe there is a rational explanation for what happened.
My suspicion is that the only way we will ever know what happened to Jack Gordon that day is if the burden of knowledge weighs so heavily on the one who knows that he can no longer bear to look in the mirror day after day. Rather than taking that knowledge to his grave, perhaps he will feel the need to tell somebody what he knows. Until that day, the man who killed Jack Gordon will fester in the rot of his own corruption. Ultimately God will pass judgment, even if the local authorities do not.
NEWSPAPER UPDATE- MARCH 2011
In March 2011, the Alamosa Valley Courier printed a follow-up article (no longer available on-line) summarizing the status of several missing persons cases from the region, including Michael Rust and Casey Berry. Jack Gordon merited a brief mention.
"Jack N. Gordon, 77, disappeared Oct. 2, 2008. Gordon is described as 6’2” tall and weighing about 235 pounds. He is described as a Caucasian with brown eyes and hair that would be gray or partially gray. He was last seen in Ft. Garland."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)