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

JACK GORDON- BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE

Jack Nels Gordon
1/07/1931 to 10/02/2008


Born in Ohio in 1931, Jack Gordon attended high school in Stow, Ohio along with his two brothers. He went on to Hiram College near Cleveland, where he played collegiate football. Throughout his life he worked in a wide variety of fields, ranging from business to youth ministry.

He was married three times, with a total of nine children. He had four daughters and a son with his first wife. He had two daughters with his second wife. Then, When he was in his early 70's he and his third wife had a daughter and a son.  At the time of his disappearance his youngest son and daughter were 4 and 5 years old respectively.

Jack didn't leave much of an internet footprint, although in 2006 he was inducted into the William H. Hollinger Athletic Hall of Fame (Hiram College), linked here.

For several years before his disappearance, Jack was essentially retired, although he always had various projects in mind. He was in the process of building a house on a five-acre lot in the Forbes Sangre de Cristo Ranches.  He also was working on a project called Thanksgiving Hill College, a self-accredited curriculum of religious studies for foreign students.


NEXT: The events of October 2, 2008, Police Incident Report


ORIGINALLY POSTED 6/11/2012
REPOSTED 11/8/2012