0:12

I'm sorry that you had to see that the mental

0:14

health system is broken. We

0:17

deal with it. We already knew that

0:19

it was broken. We deal with it on

0:21

a daily basis and we have very similar

0:23

frustrations as a police department with mental

0:25

health services. You

0:28

know the base is weird about certain things because I know

0:30

he'd been trying to get on base and they denied him

0:32

and they finally gave him a pass. He probably said he

0:34

was just going to go to the bowling alley and come

0:36

out and then that was it. It's

0:38

a weird situation. Yeah, it's weird.

0:41

33-year-old Jeffrey Spangler disappeared from Las

0:43

Cruces, New Mexico on November 8,

0:45

2021. Jeffrey

0:48

left home that morning and told his mother that

0:50

he was going to Riodoso, which is roughly two

0:52

hours away, to stay in a cabin that he

0:55

had rented. Jeffrey's mom Tracy

0:57

never heard from her son again,

0:59

which was certainly unusual. Tracy

1:01

contacted the resort that Jeffrey was staying at

1:03

and he did have a cabin reserved, but

1:05

they informed her that he never made it

1:07

there. Tracy's calls to her

1:10

son went unanswered. She decided to

1:12

report her son missing the following day and

1:14

as the investigation began, they

1:16

uncovered a plethora of strange clues that Tracy

1:18

has spent the last several years attempting to

1:21

make sense of. I'm Marissa and

1:23

from Wondery, this is episode 444 of

1:26

The Vanished, Jeffrey Spangler's Story

1:28

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2:26

or text M.I.A. to 500-500.

2:32

At the time that Jeffrey Spangler disappeared, he

2:35

was living in Las Cruces, New Mexico with

2:37

his mother, Tracy. But Jeffrey had spent much

2:39

of his life living in other states. We

2:41

spoke to his aunt Pat, who's been very

2:44

close with Tracy and Jeffrey over the years.

2:46

Pat explained how they moved around and eventually

2:49

ended up in Las Cruces. Well,

2:52

we were very, very,

2:54

very close. Jeffrey

2:57

and Tracy and his

2:59

biological father moved

3:01

to Craig, Colorado, which is

3:04

where I live. When

3:06

Jeffrey, I think, was about two

3:09

or three years old, we

3:11

lived in that small town

3:13

in Colorado. Kelly, I

3:15

think he was about five.

3:19

That's when his father

3:22

walked out on them. He

3:25

rarely ever spoke

3:28

with his biological father.

3:31

I encourage Tracy to go back

3:33

to college to get her teaching

3:36

degree. That was what she was

3:38

studying after she got her

3:40

teaching degree. A friend of hers

3:43

lived near Las Vegas and

3:45

said Las Vegas was booming

3:48

and they were begging for teachers. They

3:50

were hiring something like 6,000 new

3:53

teachers. They encouraged Tracy and

3:55

I encouraged her to go ahead

3:57

and apply. She

4:00

didn't want to be in a big city and she didn't want

4:02

to be in a city. But

4:04

I said, you need experience and if they'll

4:06

hire you and you can get some experience

4:08

and you can go wherever you want to

4:11

go. So she put her paperwork

4:13

in. She was

4:15

hired on the telephone. If

4:18

she could be there by like

4:20

within three days, I

4:22

was kind of a mentor. And

4:25

I said, you know, you need to take that

4:27

job. We'll move you down

4:29

there. And we moved her

4:31

to Las Vegas. When I left,

4:34

it was in January. It was like

4:36

60 degrees outside where

4:38

it was 20 below in

4:41

Colorado. So I left

4:43

it or I was like leaving my

4:45

left arm there. I was just horribly

4:47

upset. I went back

4:50

to Colorado. I told my mom,

4:52

I said, we're moving to Las

4:54

Vegas. So within about a

4:56

year or so after Tracy got down

4:58

there, my mom and I moved down

5:00

there, so we remained

5:02

very, very close. Jeffrey

5:05

grew up in Las Vegas and they never

5:07

really loved it there. So they later moved

5:09

to New Mexico. And once again, Pat followed.

5:13

Jeffrey and her moved

5:15

to New Mexico and

5:17

eventually I ended up down here too. I've

5:20

always been kind of a support

5:22

system for Tracy and Jeffrey. And

5:24

that's kind of how I got down here. One

5:28

thing that everyone will tell you about Jeffrey

5:30

is that he's incredibly intelligent, but when

5:32

he was a teenager, Jeffrey began to struggle with

5:34

his mental health. Jeffrey

5:37

is brilliant. I mean, very,

5:39

very smart kid, but he

5:41

was pretty happy doing

5:44

very well in school. But

5:47

at 16, that's when he

5:49

was diagnosed bipolar and

5:51

they were living in Las Vegas at that

5:53

time. I really

5:55

did not notice too much.

5:58

Tracy, she researched everything. And

6:00

she jumped on that immediately.

6:02

She got him in to

6:04

see the appropriate doctors and

6:06

got him on medication. And

6:09

he seemed to be handling it

6:12

extremely well and was

6:14

learning to deal

6:16

with the triggers that would

6:19

trigger him into an up

6:21

or a down. To

6:23

me, he seemed to

6:25

be doing, doing well with

6:27

it. We saw them weekly.

6:29

We had family dinners and

6:32

pool parties every Sunday.

6:34

So they would come over. My mom

6:36

would fix all of us dinner. We'd

6:39

play in the pool. We'd play

6:41

cards and spend Sunday afternoons together.

6:44

I know he was

6:46

at the gifted academy

6:48

in Las Vegas and

6:51

was doing quite well. Jeffrey's

6:54

mom, Tracy explained, but these mental health

6:56

challenges look like for Jeffrey early on.

6:59

In middle school, well, it started

7:01

out as just severe depression. And

7:03

then they go, okay, this is

7:05

bipolar, but it wasn't a

7:07

traditional bipolar. There's this other one

7:09

they were talking about. He

7:12

was never really manic and

7:14

he would get frustrated, dealing

7:16

with people with heart. These

7:19

challenges didn't stop Jeffrey from pursuing his

7:21

goals. He had a talent with computers

7:23

and was able to secure a good

7:25

job. He was a

7:27

software engineer and he was really

7:29

smart. He started out for architecture

7:31

and this other thing. And he's like,

7:33

I'm really good at computers. So he

7:35

started doing computer science and he got

7:37

his associates. And then he interned with this

7:40

company and they just hired him immediately. His

7:43

boss was really understanding of

7:45

his anxieties and stuff. They

7:48

really liked him. Life

7:50

for Jeffrey was atypical. While he thrived at

7:52

work, he lived at home with Tracy who

7:55

helped him manage day to day things. There

7:57

were times that meds seem to be very helpful.

7:59

but other times they weren't working well

8:01

for him. Tracy did everything she could think

8:04

to do to research different options and take

8:06

Jeffrey to appointments. He

8:08

wasn't a person who was going out all

8:10

the time or anything, he worked. And then

8:13

when he came home, he was kind

8:15

of done with people. I'm a teacher,

8:17

so after teaching all day, I too

8:19

was kind of done with people. We'd

8:22

have dinner and we'd watch Seth

8:24

Meyers and Stephen Colbert and a

8:26

couple shows. He was

8:28

very open with me about all

8:31

these things. And he was journaling and

8:33

I read stuff and he really thought

8:35

horribly of himself, but he would say,

8:37

I'm making enough money to help take

8:39

care of my mother. And I kept

8:41

telling him that he wasn't responsible for

8:44

me. I could afford my life. But

8:46

if anything major broke, he usually fixed

8:48

it like the dryer. We

8:50

were planning on getting a new dishwasher and

8:52

he was gonna buy that. He played video

8:55

games. He could be really good at work,

8:57

but I had to handle everything else. He

8:59

cooked dinner. He was a really good cook,

9:02

but I'd handled the laundry. I had

9:04

the house for him as his oasis.

9:07

And we would talk about different options.

9:09

It was bad. And so what could

9:11

we do? And let's look

9:13

at what's available. And we did the ketamine

9:15

therapy and that worked for a little while.

9:17

And we would have to go to San

9:20

Fe and I had to go

9:22

with him because he had to have

9:24

somebody to drive him. And it was San Fe.

9:26

I wanted to go look at all the stores

9:28

and stuff. And he did not. So

9:31

one day he was doing okay. And I

9:33

said, can I please drive into town? And

9:35

he goes, I don't want you to, but

9:38

go ahead because you're giving up a

9:40

lot to be here. But understand that

9:42

if anything happens to you, I will

9:44

die in this hotel room. I said,

9:46

okay, I will be very careful and

9:48

I will try not to get lost.

9:51

And we knew there was another problem. I

9:54

said, well, let's talk to the ketamine doctors. Let's

9:57

make another trip. And he's like, it's not working. So

9:59

then. new magnetic therapy and

10:01

there was a place close by.

10:03

So we were talking about that.

10:06

And he's like, there's nothing. And I'm like,

10:08

there's always something. There's always something we can

10:10

do. While Jeffrey's mental

10:12

health struggles often seem to hold him

10:14

back from things he wanted to do, they

10:16

didn't define his life. Jeffrey was funny in

10:19

a snarky kind of way and could always

10:21

make Tracy laugh. He

10:23

would sit on the couch and when I would watch

10:25

dumb shows, he would sit there and read a book

10:27

and look at me and go, I'm judging you, this

10:30

is terrible. So I have a picture of him

10:32

sitting on the couch with his book and I'm like,

10:34

look, I'm watching your dumb shows, but you can judge

10:36

me. He was very sarcastic.

10:38

One time Jerry Seinfeld had this

10:40

whole joke about pilots losing their

10:43

keys and putting them under the

10:45

wing on the airplane and

10:47

the key finder thing. And

10:49

I got lost and I don't know how

10:51

I did it, but we wound up where

10:53

all the planes were parked. I don't know

10:55

how I got there. And I'm

10:58

all nervous and scared because I'm lost

11:00

and I'm with all these airplanes and

11:02

I'm gonna get in trouble. And he

11:04

did that whole Jerry Seinfeld bit about

11:07

the planes and got me laughing so hard.

11:10

He just had a good sense

11:12

of humor, snarky, sarcastic in a

11:14

good way. Jeffrey

11:16

was also a cat person. He loved cats

11:19

and Tracy said that that began at

11:21

a very young age. He

11:23

was always a cat person and his

11:25

first word was kitty and

11:28

he did have a kitty pillow we used

11:30

to put with him all the time, but

11:32

he had an orange cat named Carmel for

11:34

a long time. Carmel was his favorite cat

11:36

and Carmel died of liver cancer. And

11:39

that made him really sad. After

11:42

about two years, he said, I

11:44

need a cat, it's time. And then

11:46

he just left one day. He goes,

11:48

I will come home with a cat.

11:50

And he left and he sent me

11:52

a picture of two black and white

11:54

kittens and he said, I have

11:56

no regret. They were curled up together.

11:58

And so he couldn't. separate them, one's

12:01

name Yang and one's name Yan. They were

12:03

both his cats. So of course I still

12:05

have them, but they were both close to

12:08

him. He got in bed so they could

12:10

sit by his desk when he was working

12:12

at night or playing games. It's

12:15

important to remember that Jeffrey disappeared in 2021 while

12:18

we were still in the midst of a global

12:20

pandemic. And Pat believes that the pandemic played a

12:22

role in all of this. Work had

12:25

been good for Jeffrey, but now he was home

12:27

all the time and he wasn't socializing with his

12:29

coworkers like he used to do. That

12:32

company he worked for, he was

12:34

with them seven something years. They

12:38

loved him. I mean, they took

12:40

him to Dallas to meet with

12:42

some clients at one point. And

12:45

he felt at that time that

12:47

Dallas company wanted to hire him

12:50

away from this company here in

12:52

New Mexico, but he did stay

12:54

with the company in New Mexico

12:57

and he was doing quite well.

12:59

When COVID happened, he started working

13:01

remotely. Tracy believed, and

13:03

as I look back, that

13:06

seems to be possibly

13:09

the change. He

13:11

became, and he was

13:13

a little bit like this before

13:16

COVID that he, I

13:18

hate to say, he hated to

13:20

be around people. So

13:23

he kind of liked

13:25

to work from home. I

13:28

kept telling him and begging him,

13:30

go to the movies with your

13:32

friends. He didn't have a huge

13:36

social life. Now, before COVID,

13:38

he and some of his

13:40

coworkers were spending some social

13:42

time together. They had formed

13:45

this little club where they

13:47

would meet to

13:49

whiskey tasting and

13:51

grade the whiskey that they were tasting and

13:54

they would go out for a beer a

13:56

little bit. Of course, that stopped

13:58

when COVID hit. and

14:01

it never really got

14:03

back, back. It was

14:05

really a tough time. I think it just made

14:07

a difference in

14:09

everybody's lives. Jeffrey being

14:11

at home, he did spend

14:14

almost 24 seven on

14:17

his computer. When he wasn't

14:19

working, he was playing video

14:21

games. So he seemed to

14:23

have separated himself from most

14:26

of his life. Jeffrey

14:28

was pretty much still working from

14:30

home. I think he still had

14:32

some meetings, but I think he

14:34

did meetings with work on the

14:37

phone most of the time. And

14:39

I think that's at the point

14:41

that he started with this paranoia.

14:44

And I think possibly that's one

14:46

of the reasons why he did

14:48

not go back into the office

14:50

because he was starting to feel

14:53

that friends of his in the

14:55

office were turning against him. But

14:57

that was paranoia because they insisted

15:00

to us that wasn't true. I

15:03

was shocked to hear about it.

15:05

Of course, Tracy, they lived together.

15:07

So Tracy was seeing this and

15:09

I did not know any

15:12

of this was going on. I knew

15:14

that he was on

15:16

his computer in his room a

15:18

lot, but I didn't know to

15:21

the extent it was. Jeffrey's

15:24

job was such a large part of his life and

15:26

also seemed to be a social outlet for him as

15:28

well. We also spoke to

15:30

one of Jeffrey's former colleagues, Sarah, who

15:33

explained Jeffrey from her perspective. We

15:36

also went to college together. So I

15:39

knew him even before working with him, but

15:41

even in college, if you were

15:44

stuck on some concept in class, you could

15:46

ask him for help and he'd help. And

15:48

it was similar at work where he was

15:51

very smart. One of those people where

15:53

you get straight A's and you still

15:55

feel dumb compared to him because he

15:57

just came to get stuff so fast.

16:00

So that was always my impression of

16:02

him is just that he was really

16:05

smart, really picked up the technical software

16:07

engineering stuff super fast, but definitely

16:09

not super social. But

16:13

there were a couple times at work where

16:15

he would have a pair of

16:17

headphones that's pretty expensive and he'd say, I

16:19

got a new one. Do you want these?

16:21

He seemed generous. So definitely a

16:23

nice person, just not super social.

16:25

We would do stuff like go to a

16:27

local brewery on a Friday, get some food,

16:30

get some drinks. And so we

16:32

have Zoom meetings where everybody would do like a

16:34

virtual lunch or something. It just seemed like he's

16:36

pretty quiet. I will

16:38

say there were different

16:41

coworkers that I talked to where

16:43

they expressed really struggling

16:45

with the isolation of the pandemic,

16:47

but he and I never had a direct conversation like

16:49

that. The strange

16:51

thing is, I guess I

16:54

never thought consciously, oh, he's a

16:56

loner in like a

16:58

bad way because to me it didn't

17:00

seem like he was depressed. It

17:03

just kind of seemed like he was content to

17:05

be more solo. In the

17:08

lead up to Jeffrey's disappearance, there was

17:10

an event that occurred that in hindsight,

17:12

Tracy Canalsi was likely a precursor to

17:15

him going missing. He

17:17

talked about how much his depression

17:19

and anxiety were really getting to

17:21

him. And I

17:23

had mentioned the hospital, he didn't want to go,

17:26

but then he got lost in

17:28

town. His car died on Lohman Avenue,

17:30

which is the main street, and he just

17:32

got out of his car and took off

17:34

running. And I don't

17:37

know how long the car was there. And I had

17:39

just called my aunt and I said, Jeffrey, over there

17:41

with you because he's not home and he's not answering

17:43

his phone. And she's like, no.

17:46

And I said, I can't get ahold of

17:48

him. And this is unusual behavior. And

17:50

my phone rang. The police called me and

17:52

Jeffrey had been at the mall walking around

17:55

and he finally went up to somebody, mall

17:57

security, and said, I need to call my

17:59

aunt. my mom and he

18:01

called me and he's like, I don't know what

18:03

happened. And I freaked out and I ran away

18:06

from my car. He was sitting

18:08

outside and I went over there and he just

18:10

grabbed me and he hung on to me. But

18:12

he said, I need to go to the hospital.

18:15

And I said, okay. They said he had

18:17

to go to the regular hospital first to

18:19

be admitted, and they wouldn't let me go

18:21

with him. And then when I

18:23

went the next day, they told me that he

18:25

couldn't have visitors. He didn't really like

18:27

to talk on the phone and he's paranoid.

18:30

So he wouldn't talk very long. But he

18:32

told me he was going to come

18:34

home on a Friday. And

18:36

they were looking at different things where he

18:39

could go for counseling during the day and

18:41

come home at night, but be in

18:44

more contact with his doctors than he

18:46

had been. And I was

18:48

like, okay, that sounds great. But when I

18:50

got home Thursday, he was home. And I

18:53

was like, I thought you were coming home

18:55

until tomorrow. And he goes, me too. They

18:57

just put me in a van and dropped

18:59

me off. And I'm like, okay. So then

19:01

we started talking about him taking time off

19:04

to rest and what does he need to

19:06

do? And he really seemed like he had

19:08

a good plan. That's the first

19:10

time he's gone into a hospital. And

19:12

he was really afraid of that. Jeffrey

19:16

had previously been diagnosed with bipolar

19:18

disorder. But while in the hospital,

19:20

he received a new diagnosis of

19:22

schizoaffective disorder. After Jeffrey came

19:24

home from the hospital sooner than anticipated, he

19:27

decided to make a trip out to Rioso,

19:30

which is a mountain resort town a couple

19:32

of hours away from Las Cruces. When Jeffrey

19:34

told Tracy about his plans, she understood why

19:36

he wanted to get away to a beautiful

19:38

place. But she also worried because he had

19:40

just been in the hospital. He's

19:43

like, I just need some time

19:45

in nature because Rioso is pretty

19:48

and mountainous and has water and

19:50

isn't desert. So I understood that,

19:52

but I told him hiking alone isn't a

19:54

good idea. Keep your phone on you, answer

19:56

me when I call you. He's like, I

19:59

need to rest. and I said, I know I

20:01

won't harass you too much. I just need to know you're

20:03

okay. And then when I

20:05

went to leave for work that morning, he

20:08

didn't like to be touched. And I said, I

20:10

know you don't want to be touched, but I'm

20:12

going to give you a big hug and I

20:14

love you. And I'm worried. I think you should

20:16

be home longer. And he said, it's okay, mom,

20:18

I'm fine. And I love you too. And

20:20

that was the last time. Perhaps

20:23

that was mother's intuition. And it's true that

20:25

she never saw her son again. But Pat

20:27

had seen Jeffrey days before he went missing.

20:30

She stopped by the house and Jeffrey mentioned

20:32

his plans for a vacation. Pat said she

20:34

didn't pick up on any red flags. I

20:38

had talked to him the

20:40

week before that, and he

20:42

was talking about taking this

20:44

vacation. And we talked just

20:47

like you and I are

20:49

talking about different places

20:51

he could go to visit. And

20:53

he was talking about Santa Fe

20:55

and he was talking about RIDO.

20:57

So, and he was talking about

20:59

several different places. And it appeared

21:02

to me that he was doing

21:04

just fine. It was after we

21:06

had gotten home. I think it

21:08

was just a few days. We

21:10

chatted for a half an hour

21:12

to 45 minutes. And like

21:15

I said, he was talking about planning

21:17

this vacation. And I thought, well, he

21:20

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21:22

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21:24

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21:26

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21:29

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21:31

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23:54

Jeffrey left home on the morning of the morning. of

24:00

November 8, 2021, and Tracy never heard

24:02

from her son again. She quickly became

24:05

gravely concerned due to the recent events

24:07

that led to his hospital stay. Tracy

24:09

contacted the Las Cruces Police Department the

24:12

following day to report her son missing.

24:14

We submitted a record request to the

24:17

Las Cruces Police Department and received many

24:19

video files that document the search for

24:21

Jeffrey. The following audio is from body

24:23

cam footage that documents the conversation that

24:26

Tracy had with police when she reported

24:28

Jeffrey missing. My son

24:30

is Missy. Okay. He's 33. He's

24:32

bipolar. He's

24:36

schizoaffective disorder. He just got

24:38

out of the mental hospital.

24:40

He was driving at your rhodoso

24:43

yesterday. He never checked

24:45

into the hotel. Okay. And

24:47

I can't get hold of him and his phone

24:49

is dead. All right. Does he have any friends or anyone else

24:52

that lives here in town? No. What

24:54

was he going to rhodoso for? He wanted

24:56

some time away from work because

24:58

it had been very stressful. Okay.

25:01

What time did he leave yesterday? I'm not

25:03

really sure. He picked up his car

25:05

from Gilbert's automotive in the morning. Okay.

25:08

And I told him to call me when he got

25:10

there and he never called me and I called him

25:12

before I went to bed and he didn't call me

25:14

or answer. I called about

25:17

12 30 last night. Okay.

25:19

He ever left before? About two weeks

25:21

ago. He did this when he

25:23

abandoned his car on the highway in

25:25

front of proton grill and took off

25:27

running. And that was before we hospitalized

25:29

him. And he was admitted to where?

25:32

Um, Mississippi Valley Hospital. For how long?

25:34

A week. And he got released when?

25:37

On a Friday. So essentially yesterday he was

25:39

supposed to go to rhodoso. He said

25:41

sometime possibly in the morning he left and you

25:43

haven't been able to get a hold of him.

25:45

No. Are you able to track his

25:47

phone? No, we tried it and I called

25:49

Verizon and they said it's dead or turned

25:51

off. And he wasn't upset or

25:54

anything this morning. He just was planning

25:56

to go to rhodoso. Yesterday morning. He

25:58

wasn't fair. He wasn't upset. Okay,

26:00

he was not. He was supposed to call me

26:02

when he got there. And he hasn't

26:04

answered any of my calls for his grandfather.

26:06

Does he have any type of social media? Um,

26:09

no. He's into cybersecurity, so he's

26:11

on any social media. So

26:13

you don't know if he took any out of there, I think, or not. He

26:15

was packing when I left. He was just

26:18

packing for our trip yesterday.

26:20

Yeah, how long was he going to stay up there? Until

26:22

Friday. Okay. And then I

26:24

called the place and he's never, he didn't

26:27

check in. What place was he supposed to check in

26:29

at? The Vrodoso lodges and

26:31

cappins. Is he on medication? Yes,

26:33

he's on medication. Is he crying? Um,

26:36

yeah, he's usually really good about taking his

26:38

meds. He picked up his

26:40

car from Gilbert's automotive. Gilbert said

26:43

he seemed fine. He seemed fine

26:45

when I left. So he already had his stuff, so maybe he

26:47

just left and stopped somewhere. We'll

26:49

do the incident report. I'll make some phone calls right now

26:51

just to see if we can locate anything on him. But

26:53

I mean, the best bet is he can be on cell

26:56

phone. If he turns on himself, I'm going

26:58

to call out a location. Tracy

27:00

had already done her homework before calling

27:02

the police. She had contacted the New

27:05

Mexico State Police to inquire about car

27:07

accidents. She checked with Jeffrey's mobile carrier,

27:09

but she wasn't gaining any traction. One

27:12

of the first calls that the responding officer

27:14

made was to the cabin rental office where

27:16

Jeffrey was due to be staying. Jeffrey

27:18

hadn't been responding to Tracy, but the person

27:21

at the office in Riodoso said she had

27:23

heard from Jeffrey the night before. This

27:26

is Officer Moro with the Las Piscos Police

27:28

Department. Yes, I'm in the hospital. We're

27:30

actually investigating a missing person. We have a

27:33

person that's calling about their son who's supposedly

27:35

staying there at your lodge. We're

27:37

trying to determine if he's arrived there. Okay,

27:40

I think I spoke with his mother

27:42

this morning. I can leave him

27:44

a key packet for him to

27:46

pick up overnight after he closed.

27:49

Okay. And I still have it with me, so

27:51

he'd have to come pick that up. Okay,

27:53

so as of now, he's still having to shut

27:55

up for your guys' lodges, right? Right.

27:58

He wouldn't be aware of what lodges. to stay in

28:00

or anything like that he definitely has to go to

28:02

your office. Yeah, he would have first

28:05

come to our office and I just

28:07

sent him an email confirmation and a

28:09

map to where our location is. I did send

28:12

him a text message last night telling us that

28:14

I was going to leave him a key packet.

28:16

He did reply pretty quickly to that one

28:18

but not to my text this morning. What

28:20

did he reply last night? He just said

28:22

thank you. All righty. We'll

28:25

try back in a little bit just to make sure

28:27

I see if he gets there. I'll say something. After

28:30

that they called around to local hospitals. Several

28:32

hospitals let the officers know that Jeffrey was

28:34

not a patient there but the one he

28:36

had been at in the lead up to

28:38

his disappearance wouldn't give out any information. This

28:41

gave them a glimmer of hope that perhaps he

28:43

was there and didn't wish to have contact. So

28:46

I talked to one of our supervisors. He thinks he

28:48

may be there so we'll go check the parking lot

28:51

to see if his car is there. So I'll give

28:53

you a quick call here as soon as we go

28:55

there just to see if maybe he's down there. Officers

28:57

went over to the hospital and spoke to

28:59

someone but ultimately they were turned away. We

29:03

had a report about Mickey Burton. Which

29:05

is a missing person. Oh okay. Or

29:08

just trying to see if the we have

29:10

to keep on looking for this gentleman. An

29:12

adult child. It's an adult. His

29:14

mom was, he was supposed to go to Rio de

29:17

la Soto. He never showed up there.

29:19

He was here last week of errand. Yeah

29:21

so without a patient ID

29:23

number we cannot confirm or deny

29:25

if the patient is here or

29:28

not. Okay. But you don't know

29:30

if I could keep looking for this gentleman

29:32

or not. Yeah sorry. No. Okay thank you.

29:35

Well that was not very helpful. They said

29:37

that they can't give me any information without

29:39

a patient ID. All right this is

29:42

Cara in the parking lot. Uh I'm

29:44

checking the front. So far I haven't seen

29:46

it. I'm sorry Gil. They

29:48

have new managers there. Here

29:51

Lacey they've just not been cooperative with

29:53

us at all. Tracy

29:56

said that she's been frustrated by her interactions

29:58

with police since day one. She

30:00

felt they were dismissive of her concerns. He

30:03

went missing the next day. I knew something

30:05

was wrong. He didn't call me that Monday

30:07

night, but I thought maybe he just got

30:10

there and was really tired. But

30:12

in the morning when I can get a

30:14

hold of him, I knew something was wrong. And

30:16

the police just acted like I was a

30:18

crazy mother. And I'm like,

30:20

you don't understand. He just got out of

30:22

the mental hospital. He's not

30:24

well. We have a good

30:27

relationship. I'm not

30:29

being overly sensitive. He was always needed

30:31

to know exactly where I was. If

30:33

I was going to be late, I

30:35

better call or I was in trouble.

30:38

Just because, you know, he was bipolar,

30:40

schizophrenic. He had a lot of paranoia, a

30:43

lot of anxiety. Something is

30:45

wrong. I need you to pin his phone

30:47

and they wouldn't do it. And they said,

30:49

was he suicidal? And I said, well, not

30:51

really. But he might wander off

30:53

into the desert. And they said, well,

30:55

he's entitled to do that. I

30:57

go, fine, he's suicidal. And they said, well,

31:00

you just told us he wasn't. So I'm

31:02

like, you don't understand. This

31:04

is an extremely frustrating situation for both

31:06

families and law enforcement. But there are

31:08

laws in place in order to protect

31:11

privacy. Days after Jeffrey had

31:13

vanished and still without any leads. Tracy

31:15

called the police department back to inquire

31:17

about reporting the car stolen with the

31:19

hope that that would help locate her

31:21

son more quickly. Yes,

31:23

ma'am, is this Tracy? Yeah, this

31:26

is Officer Hodges, Las Cruces Police

31:28

Department. Hi, I understand

31:30

you called earlier. So

31:32

it's been missing since Monday.

31:35

He's an adult that he

31:37

has bipolar and he's so

31:39

effective disorder. He was

31:41

just released from Mesia Valley

31:44

Hospital. Nobody can get in

31:47

contact with him. He was supposed to be

31:49

home today. He's still not here. And

31:52

so I would like to report my

31:54

car stolen now. Maybe that will make

31:56

things move a little faster. As

31:59

far as what? People searching for

32:01

him. Okay. Are you wanting to

32:03

pursue charges on him stealing your vehicle?

32:06

No, I want to find him Oh,

32:09

I understand that man But I if you're

32:11

not willing to pursue charges on it so

32:13

any level crime then but I

32:15

can't with good faith In for

32:17

that vehicle is stolen when somebody's

32:19

missing we enter them into NCIC

32:21

as a missing person And

32:23

so if anybody comes in contact with that

32:26

individual as far as a law enforcement capacity

32:28

and Run their information.

32:30

They will come back is missing if

32:33

he's an adult and he comes back is missing

32:35

then He's under

32:37

his own Recognizance and

32:40

can act as an

32:42

adult then you won't be notified that he

32:44

was taken out of NCIC That's

32:46

how that works so like if he goes through

32:49

a border patrol checkpoint and They

32:51

may contact with him and identify him He

32:53

comes back is missing then they'll do a

32:55

welfare check on him and make sure he's

32:57

okay And then they would take him out

32:59

of NCIC. Okay, none of this feels very helpful

33:02

Is there a way I can get you guys to

33:04

ping his phone the last time it was on? I

33:06

know for sure was at 505 on

33:09

Monday. Is he capable of taking

33:11

care of himself? Well, he

33:13

wasn't that's why I put him in

33:15

the hospital. Okay, and then he

33:17

got out Yeah, well if

33:19

he wasn't with the ability to leave

33:21

the hospital They probably would never least him

33:24

under his own power like and I wouldn't

33:26

have enough to ping his cell phone based

33:28

on that This is

33:30

incredibly Unhelpful and I'm

33:33

afraid he's had another breakdown. Does

33:35

he have like any type of substance abuse? No,

33:38

it's already been documented He's already been entered in

33:40

since the ICM there There is not much I

33:43

can do as far as like ping his phone

33:46

and tracking him down and bringing

33:48

him home Say I came in contact with

33:50

him today and I ran

33:52

his information for whatever reason whether it be

33:54

a trespassing or a Whatever

33:57

reason and I speak

33:59

with him He answers all of my

34:01

questions. He's like, no, I'm not missing. I'm

34:03

fine. I don't want anybody's help. Then

34:06

I would document that. I would go to

34:09

our central dispatch and take him out of NCIC

34:11

as a missing person, and that would be the

34:13

end of it. So he may not even be

34:15

missing anymore. You know what I mean? He's

34:18

an adult, so he doesn't have to

34:20

get in contact. I know

34:22

it's an adult, but he is mentally

34:24

ill. I understand that, ma'am. The

34:27

days continued to pass, and Tracey knew her

34:29

son only had a limited supply of his

34:31

medication when he left home. So

34:34

she called again, just hoping that would make

34:36

a difference. My son

34:38

is about to run out of medication, which

34:40

will make him a danger to himself. Let

34:43

me check to see if anyone's run that license

34:45

plate. Okay, thank you. So

34:47

the sheriff's ran him on the ninth,

34:49

the license plate. White

34:51

Sands ran the license plate on the

34:53

15th two days ago. Yeah,

34:56

I had them running his plate, and I

34:58

had the ship. So that doesn't mean they

35:00

actually saw the car. Oh, so

35:02

you called them to run the plate? Yes.

35:05

Okay, so that's probably why they looked him up,

35:07

too, right? So that doesn't mean

35:09

they actually saw the car? No, that just

35:12

means that whoever you spoke to probably ran

35:14

the information. Doesn't necessarily mean that

35:16

they had contact. Because if they would have had

35:18

contact with him, and they ran

35:20

his information, it would have popped up that he's a

35:22

missing person. He heard

35:24

a mention in that call of White Sands. They're

35:27

speaking about the White Sands Missile Range, which

35:29

is a military facility in New Mexico, not

35:32

far from Las Cruces. As far

35:34

as anyone knew, Jeffrey didn't necessarily have any

35:36

business being at the missile range. He had

35:38

never told anyone that he had done work

35:40

there. And Tracy didn't believe that he had

35:42

an established history of visiting the missile range.

35:45

But there are places that the public can visit

35:47

if they obtain a visitor pass. Tracy told us

35:50

more. There's a

35:52

museum on the missile range. So

35:54

there is a certain part you can get into.

35:56

And then there's a town out there. You

35:59

can get up... half

36:01

the sky led him into

36:03

the base, but

36:06

on that particular day,

36:08

civilians were not allowed on the base

36:10

and it was a while. Civilians weren't allowed

36:12

there because they had a bunch of refugees.

36:16

Jeffrey had been to the missile range on the

36:18

day that he disappeared. He obtained a visitor pass

36:20

to go bowling there. Here's some of

36:22

a call between Tracy and Detective Lockridge, going

36:24

over the information they had at the time.

36:26

I got the

36:29

report just yesterday because I've been out

36:31

of the office and so I spoke

36:33

with a lieutenant fank over

36:35

at White Sands Base and

36:37

he said that they'd had some information that

36:39

he was on base and then he'd sported

36:41

me kind of a timeline of what

36:44

they have for your son.

36:46

So is he part of the military

36:48

or was he... No, I

36:51

see that part of it, he just

36:53

got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. He got

36:55

lost and wound up at their coffee

36:57

to Mr. Baker at visitor center. He

36:59

said, you know, you can come out

37:02

here and bowl. I mean, we got at

37:04

least a date range that he was on

37:06

November 18, he was on the base, so

37:08

maybe he left from there. Any other contacts, any

37:10

other friends or anybody else that may have seen him

37:12

or heard from him in the last few days? A

37:15

couple of guys from work. Those are the only ones I

37:17

know and I've talked to them and he's

37:19

not answering them either. They've sent messages

37:22

out and even on their work

37:25

channel. This brother

37:27

Baker, Mr. Baker, do you know where he works out on

37:29

base or where he was at on base? Visitor

37:32

center. That one probably it's in the front

37:34

so I can go talk to him as well. I

37:36

talked to brother Baker, he's a very

37:39

nice man. Did they tell you

37:41

like what time he left the base? I've

37:43

been in contact with the lieutenant fank who's

37:45

the supervisor police officer out there at the

37:47

base. He stated that they're trying

37:49

to track him through the security camera footage out

37:52

there at the base. They said that he came

37:54

through the gates and it was kind

37:56

of random and that's what's kind of weird about this

37:58

as well is because he goes and... in at 11 33

38:00

and then he comes out and goes back in 11 39 comes out and comes back

38:05

in at 12 49 and then he

38:08

was last or he was seen at the bowling alley at 130

38:12

and at 230 his vehicles not there

38:14

I told him I was like well we need

38:16

to try to track down this where he went

38:18

to after that so we need to try to

38:20

look at security camera footage to see what time

38:22

maybe he left the base after 230 so that's

38:25

why I got that lieutenant over there that's trying to

38:27

help me out with that they told me because

38:29

he's in the zone they won't notify me

38:31

if he found yes ma'am

38:33

we're gonna try

38:37

to do everything we can to find him I

38:39

feel concerned for the fact that you know his

38:41

behavior obviously on the bases erratic and not not

38:43

what you call normal I mean nobody goes into

38:45

the base three times within a you know an

38:47

hour it just doesn't make any sense and then

38:49

the fact that he's there the bowling alley one

38:51

hour and then he's gone the next so that's

38:53

what's kind of concerning for me as well you

38:55

know I mean there's a lot of area between

38:57

here and there my most of its military base

39:00

and you would have hoped that if

39:02

somebody saw him out there they would have stopped

39:04

him already or made contact with him but again

39:06

I think this lieutenant think over that the police partner

39:08

would have heard about this already but or have would

39:10

have heard if he had been detained or anything like

39:12

that so because there's security running around there that bed

39:15

and car would have been found I would imagine pretty

39:17

soon but I don't want to put it out of

39:19

the realm of possibilities but he

39:21

only packed enough for like four

39:23

days and now it's been weeks

39:26

yeah I called my dad cuz I was

39:28

nervous about him and I said

39:30

maybe you should call maybe he doesn't want

39:32

to talk to me right now right and

39:35

he didn't answer my dad either and grandmother

39:37

and that's when the phone went off and

39:40

it hasn't used any data or text or

39:42

talk the fact that

39:44

Jeffrey was at a military installation has

39:47

made investigating his footsteps on November 8th

39:49

much more complicated but Tracy told

39:51

us what she knows there

39:53

is a gate you have to check in

39:56

if you don't live there you have to

39:58

get a path from the office And

40:00

I'm like, why did he do

40:02

that? Yeah, he's bipolar and schizophrenic

40:05

and he just got out of the hospital. So

40:07

things don't make sense. But he didn't tell

40:09

me he was going to stop there. And

40:12

he did tell me he got a pass

40:14

to go bowling on White Sands Missile Range.

40:17

And I just, okay. But he

40:19

had to drive through the gate a

40:21

couple of times because he didn't have

40:23

enough identification. They had a time frame.

40:25

They said it was kind of funny

40:28

because he went in and drove

40:30

out and apparently he didn't have his

40:32

insurance card. And he had

40:34

to get his insurance card faxed

40:36

to them. Him stopping

40:38

there wasn't anything I knew. And

40:41

then he went through and the guy that let

40:43

him in told me that his car was gone

40:45

from the bowling alley at 1.30. And

40:48

they said there's nobody saw him on

40:50

the base except the waitress at the

40:52

bowling alley. And all the

40:55

cameras were broken except the gate cameras.

40:57

I'm like, really? You're a military, you're

40:59

a missile range and there's refugees all

41:01

over and none of your cameras work?

41:03

All right. That doesn't sound right.

41:06

Pat's perplexed by the fact that Jeffrey went

41:08

to White Sands Missile Range for a number

41:11

of reasons. It appears that Jeffrey had befriended

41:13

a gentleman there shortly before he disappeared. But

41:15

the circumstances are very strange to her. It

41:19

is a military installation and

41:21

you must have a visitor's

41:23

pass. But you can go

41:25

to the visitor's center and

41:28

get a little bit of a background

41:30

check. So your ID and

41:32

get a visitor's pass to go

41:34

to some of the areas. There

41:37

are some, of course, restricted areas.

41:39

But Jeffrey went to the bowling

41:41

alley, which, you know, had public

41:44

access. This is what is absolutely

41:47

strange about the

41:50

situation. Because the

41:52

gentleman that gave

41:54

him the visitor's pass told

41:57

us that Jeffrey had

41:59

shown... up the week before

42:01

at the visitor center.

42:04

And he spoke with this

42:07

gentleman that he was

42:09

looking for gold gems. That

42:12

guy says, well, no,

42:15

there's no gold gems,

42:17

nasiums here. He

42:19

told us he could tell that

42:21

Jeffrey was in a little bit

42:23

of stress and was having some

42:25

anxiety. So he took some

42:28

time and talked to him

42:30

and kind of tried to talk

42:32

him down a little bit. Because he

42:35

could tell that once he told Jeffrey that

42:37

there was no gold gem there, Jeffrey

42:40

was really flustered and

42:42

confused. And so he

42:44

apparently, they talked a

42:46

little bit supposedly about the

42:48

Bible and things

42:50

like that. And this gentleman said

42:53

he wasn't a pastor, but

42:55

he was like a brother. And

42:58

that he could talk to him

43:00

sometime about scripture and the

43:03

Bible and any time he wanted

43:05

to talk. And then apparently

43:07

he told Jeffrey at that time, he

43:09

said, well, anytime you want to come

43:11

back, I can get you

43:13

in to the bowling alley. Apparently that

43:15

was the conversation. So this

43:17

is why we thought that that's why

43:19

he went to White Sands that day,

43:22

that he was going to go bowling

43:24

before he was going to head up to

43:26

his cabin at Rioso, I guess. That's

43:29

the only information we have. I

43:32

do find that totally

43:34

they are Jehovah's

43:36

Witnesses. And just

43:39

prior to that, Jeffrey had declared that

43:41

all of a sudden he was an

43:43

atheist and he didn't believe in any

43:45

religion. The Jehovah's Witnesses,

43:48

and I'm not judging or

43:50

anything, but they don't go

43:52

into the military. They

43:54

don't pledge allegiance anything.

43:57

So that is very strange that.

44:00

he would go to the military base. They

44:02

don't vote, they don't get involved

44:05

in governmental issues. So, yeah, it

44:07

is kind of accepted the fact

44:09

that he befriended this guy and

44:12

the guy said, if

44:14

you ever want to go bowling, I can

44:16

get you onto the base, go bowling. That

44:19

whole thing is unanswerable. At

44:22

the White Sands Missile Range, there are different

44:24

gates or entry and exit points. One

44:27

is the Las Cruces Gate, which is the

44:29

main gate and the one all visitors are

44:31

supposed to enter from. There is also an

44:33

El Paso gate further south and an Orogrande

44:35

gate to the east. The Las Cruces Gate

44:37

would be the one that Jeffrey would have

44:39

exited to head back to his house. Though

44:42

since he was planning to go to the cabin, he

44:44

may have gone out another gate. After

44:46

learning that he had been at White Sands,

44:48

they tried to track down footage to see

44:50

what he had been doing there, which gate

44:52

he exited out of and at what time.

44:54

This was an incredibly frustrating endeavor. I

44:57

feel in El Paso, that's the easier gate

44:59

to go out of. If you live in

45:01

Las Cruces, you go up the Las Cruces

45:03

Gate. And they kept telling me, well, because

45:05

of the refugees, he couldn't have gone out

45:08

the El Paso gate. So that's why they

45:10

kept telling me, we have to go through

45:12

the tapes really slow, ma'am, and everybody had

45:14

to go through the front gate. I'm at

45:16

school telling everybody what's going on and our

45:18

security guard is a veteran and his brother-in-law

45:20

works at the base and he goes, no

45:22

civilians are allowed on the base right now

45:24

because of the refugees. And that's

45:27

why they also told me he couldn't

45:29

go out the back gate because they

45:31

have the refugees and the different military

45:33

establishments there. So they weren't letting anybody

45:36

out that way. And I held back

45:38

and I said, hey, why did

45:40

you give him a pass? No civilians were allowed

45:42

on the base. And he goes, well, I didn't

45:44

know that. We drove up

45:46

to the back gate. My dad

45:48

and my aunt and I, we were driving

45:51

all around. And so we went the

45:53

back way and I kept going, there's no reason

45:55

he would have been out here. He wouldn't drive

45:58

this. And we managed to drive through. three

46:01

checkpoints up to the gate. And

46:03

when I would call and check and

46:05

I say, couldn't you have gone out

46:07

the El Paso gate and the young

46:09

optimistic lieutenant was like, no ma'am, there

46:12

are three checkpoints. There is no way

46:14

we'd know if he went out that

46:16

way. During a phone

46:18

call with the investigator, he told Tracy that

46:20

he had checked with Border Patrol checkpoints in

46:22

the area to see if they had any

46:24

record of Jeffrey passing through. The only

46:27

thing I have found out is that his vehicle

46:29

did not cross any of the Border Patrol checkpoints.

46:32

They did a scan, they looked through all of

46:34

them and they did not find him going through

46:36

any of the Border Patrol checkpoints. Okay,

46:38

so what about like towards El

46:40

Paso? There's no Border Patrol checkpoints

46:43

going into El Paso. Now they have some

46:45

coming in and out about Paso, but that

46:47

would be going like towards and further

46:50

into Texas. They could, but if

46:52

it's just between here and El Paso, they won't have it.

46:55

Okay, are you able to get

46:57

his bank records or his phone

46:59

records or ping his phone? Unfortunately,

47:02

no, I contacted our district attorney's office

47:04

to try to see if we could

47:06

subpoena his records, but since there

47:08

has not been a crime that's been committed, we

47:10

cannot subpoena his records. There has

47:13

to be crime or so, we have to suspect

47:15

that foul play has been done before we can

47:17

subpoena any records. Well, I'm starting

47:19

to suspect foul play because he's never

47:21

ever done this before. I understand

47:24

that ma'am, but we have to have some kind of

47:26

evidence that shows that there's a suspect of foul play.

47:29

Find his car and him missing. There has to

47:31

be signs of foul

47:33

play, not just that because he

47:35

hasn't contacted back, but we're

47:37

still, I'm still trying to see

47:39

if there's any other angles we can work.

47:41

I'm still waiting on the stuff from White

47:44

Sands to see if they, they still haven't

47:46

got me the security camera footage. I contacted

47:49

Lieutenant, but he's out of the office. I contacted his

47:51

captain and he's working on it for me right now.

47:54

Several days later they spoke once again

47:56

and you can hear the frustration in

47:58

Tracy's voice. At this point, her son

48:01

had been missing for nearly a month, and they

48:03

still hadn't been able to obtain footage from the

48:05

missile range. Like I

48:07

told you, when we're trying to follow up on any

48:09

leads, I'm still trying to wait back from the White

48:11

Sands to see about the security camera footage. I talked

48:14

to a captain over there who's working on it for

48:16

me. We did put

48:18

it out over media, his photo

48:20

and the information, so it

48:22

should be hitting the media outlets so

48:25

we can get his picture and his information out

48:28

there so if anybody sees him, unless

48:31

you can think of anything else, any other places we

48:33

could look or any other places that we can contact

48:35

to try to see where he might have gone. No,

48:37

I've got no idea, and I thought figuring

48:40

out why the missile range would not have

48:42

got information after three weeks. Like

48:44

I said, I'm on their timetable. That's why

48:46

I kept calling them and pressuring them, I need to have these

48:49

security camera footage as soon as possible. But

48:52

again, I have to work on, you know, I

48:54

mean, it's us requesting it from the federal

48:56

government. He doesn't fit

48:59

the right criteria for an Amber Alert

49:01

or a Silver Alert or a Britney

49:03

Alert. That's why we're pushing it

49:05

out because he doesn't fit for

49:08

those criteria, but due to

49:10

the nature of him being missing

49:12

and the fact that it's outside

49:14

of his normal patterns and that we have no

49:16

access and it's been so long since he's been

49:18

missing, that's why we're putting it out over the

49:21

media. We cannot get access to his bank records

49:23

or anything like that because of the fact that

49:25

he is an adult because it's an invasion of

49:27

privacy. I mean, it's our constitutional

49:30

rights and... But not in danger?

49:33

Yes, ma'am. Because of the fact is we don't know

49:35

if he is in danger or not due to the

49:37

fact that we have no evidence besides the behavior and

49:39

the fact that he is diagnosed

49:41

paranoid, schizoaffective. That's not one of

49:44

the ones that would be considered

49:46

endangered for the fact that people

49:48

can function with those mental

49:51

illnesses. Do you have any idea how

49:53

long it's going to take, white sand? You

49:55

have to realize that they're trying to go through all

49:58

their camera footage and that's... days.

50:00

I mean, we're going obviously they're going through all of

50:02

the November 8th, but there's a lot of footage in

50:05

a lot of areas that he could have been through

50:07

in that timeframe. So I'm just like I said, I

50:09

unfortunately, it's a waiting game for me to I'm just,

50:11

you know, I can pressure them. But the thing is,

50:13

is it's still the federal government and they will, they

50:16

can go can work on their timeframe in

50:18

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52:45

all understand the reasoning behind the privacy laws that

52:47

we have in place. But in a case like

52:49

this, it leaves the family and police having to

52:51

cut through a lot of red tape at a

52:54

time when there's a sense of urgency. The clock

52:56

is ticking. Roughly a month after

52:58

Jeffrey had vanished, there was a major development

53:00

when his car was located. But it wasn't

53:02

found in or around White Sands, Las Cruces,

53:05

or the area that he had planned to

53:07

stay in the cabin. It was

53:09

abandoned in a very remote spot on the

53:11

outskirts of El Paso, Texas. When

53:14

we found Jeffrey's car, Autumn

53:16

Galisto worked for the Franklin State

53:18

Park Police and she called it

53:20

in as crime scene. He'd

53:23

been missing almost a month at that point.

53:25

All of his medication, and he was

53:27

on some heavy duty medication, his

53:30

computer, Nintendo Switch, his

53:33

really into electronics, his

53:35

books, clothes, everything was

53:38

still in the car. Autumn said

53:41

where they are for that car to

53:43

be undisturbed and not stripped, she found

53:45

it really difficult to believe it had

53:47

been there for a month. It's

53:50

a weird place where the car was

53:52

found. There's this little tiny town right

53:54

across the Texas border before you get

53:57

into El Paso called Vinton and

53:59

it's most of the time like truck stop, there's

54:01

a grocery store and a few little

54:03

housing development. Then there was this road

54:05

into the desert where there were big

54:08

tanks. And I don't know if they

54:10

were fast tanks or water tanks. He

54:12

went way past that. But Franklin State

54:14

Park place said there's another way in

54:17

and he was going to check that

54:19

to see if he could see anything

54:21

because where the car was found, there

54:23

wasn't a road and it was weeds.

54:26

Police drove us out there and like an SUV

54:28

thing. I mean, we were bumping and

54:30

hitting our heads and it was really

54:32

hard to get out there. He

54:35

couldn't have driven his car out

54:37

here, especially at night. Never

54:40

construction workers out there. They never saw

54:42

the car because it was so far

54:44

back in. There was a

54:46

gate there to where the Franklin State

54:48

Park started. That's really rural

54:50

out there. It was like a stock gate and

54:53

it was closed until the police got there. They

54:55

said they looked around to see, but they said

54:57

there wasn't a sign of struggle or anything. There's

55:00

brush and there's rock and there's

55:02

nothing. I don't know why he

55:04

would have been out there and I

55:06

seriously don't believe he could have

55:08

driven his car out there. The

55:11

El Paso County Police, I asked them

55:13

if I needed to call Detective Lockridge

55:15

and they said no. And

55:17

then they told us that we could move the car. And

55:20

so we did. Then Lockridge

55:22

was like, why didn't you call me?

55:24

And I'm like, they told me that

55:26

you would find out because of the

55:29

police information. But he did come look

55:31

at the car and he

55:33

took Jeffrey's computer. When

55:35

I started talking to Lockridge, he

55:38

got Jeffrey's computer. He looked at

55:40

Jeffrey's car, but he didn't look at Jeffrey's

55:42

car where they found it. Those police

55:44

released it, said, yeah, we looked at it. It's

55:46

fine. But when they let us out there, I

55:49

opened the door and his phone fell out. And I was like,

55:51

you didn't even look at this car. This

55:53

area where the car was found is remote

55:55

and rugged desert at the foothills of a

55:57

mountain range not far from the Franklin Mountain.

56:00

in State Park. The car wasn't

56:02

in a spot where it would have been seen

56:04

by many people, because it's simply not a place

56:06

that's frequented by many. Tracy told

56:08

us about the person who had reported finding the

56:10

car. Tracy The

56:12

hiker guy that reported Jeffrey's

56:14

car had been up there on

56:17

October 14th and hadn't seen

56:19

the car, but when he went out on

56:21

December 6th was the first time he

56:23

saw the car, and then on

56:25

December 7th and 8th it was still there, so

56:27

that's when he called. He didn't go

56:30

regularly, but he hadn't seen

56:32

it. The second time he went out,

56:34

he saw it and he went and did

56:36

his hike or whatever, and he came back and

56:38

it hadn't moved, and he flashed

56:40

his light at it and nothing, didn't

56:42

get a response. It was

56:45

clean. It was Texas and El

56:47

Paso and it's dusty. My

56:50

aunt did manage to drive the car out,

56:52

but we went two miles an hour. Where

56:55

it was in the night, there's no way

56:57

he could have driven it out there, and

56:59

it was a Dodge Avenger, so they're really

57:01

low to the ground, and

57:03

it's all rocks and there's not

57:05

even a road. Since

57:08

Jeffrey's vehicle was found in another state, law

57:10

enforcement in Texas were the ones who searched

57:12

the area for him. Pat believes that they

57:14

did a thorough search for Jeffrey, but not

57:16

a single clue was found outside of the

57:18

car. I

57:21

thought they did an

57:23

incredible job. I

57:25

mean, that afternoon, I think

57:28

it was the El Paso

57:30

search and rescue. They

57:32

wouldn't let us go back there,

57:34

so we had to stay at

57:36

the open gate, because of course

57:38

they were checking it to see

57:40

if it was a crime thing,

57:42

doing all kinds of stuff. They

57:45

showed up with probably about

57:47

20 searchers.

57:50

They had four-wheelers,

57:52

a helicopter, and

57:54

just people walking. I think

57:56

they had a drone that day, and

57:59

they searched. and tell Darce,

58:02

the El Paso Police Department, the

58:05

El Paso Sheriff's Department, and

58:07

the Franklin Mountain State Police,

58:10

which were the ones that contacted her

58:13

about the car, they

58:15

were absolutely wonderful.

58:19

They did that first, that afternoon,

58:21

and the next day, I believe

58:23

the Sheriff's Department, and that

58:25

was the day that Tracy had

58:28

a teacher friend who owned a

58:30

cadaver dog, they went up

58:32

there the next day and

58:35

searched for several hours.

58:37

The state park police told us they

58:40

did not see any scuffle. They

58:42

didn't see a bunch of footprints.

58:45

I mean, it was on a gravel road, if you

58:47

can call it a road, but it was

58:49

so weird, it was on that private property. And

58:52

then the backside of this five acres

58:55

was the Franklin Mountain, which is open

58:57

to the public. Finding

58:59

Jeffrey's car gave them a few more

59:01

clues. Inside, Pat found a

59:03

couple of receipts. One was

59:05

from the bowling alley, and another was from

59:08

a convenience store that Jeffrey must have stopped

59:10

at after leaving White Sands. The receipt from

59:12

the bowling alley was from around 6 p.m.,

59:15

which indicates that he was at the missile range for

59:17

a very long time. This can be

59:19

a bit confusing, but the convenience store that

59:21

Jeffrey stopped at is in Oro Grande. Las

59:24

Cruces, where Jeffrey lived, is to the

59:26

west of White Sands. Oro Grande is

59:28

to the east or southeast, and it's

59:30

a tiny little town. What was perplexing

59:32

about this is how Jeffrey ended up

59:34

there. If he had gone out

59:37

the Las Cruces gate, which is the one

59:39

that visitors are supposed to use, this pit

59:41

stop would have been out of the way

59:43

of his destination in Riodoso, which is northeast

59:45

of White Sands. No one knows

59:47

why or how Jeffrey ended up at the pit stop,

59:50

but Tracy told us what she knows. Well,

59:53

we found the two receipts. My aunt found

59:55

them, and the guy that let him

59:57

in told me that his car was gone from

59:59

there. bowling alley at 1 30.

1:00:02

But I have a receipt from the bowling

1:00:04

alley around six something. But one

1:00:06

he couldn't see at night. So I don't know

1:00:08

why he was there so long. He

1:00:11

shut up his phone at 5 28,

1:00:13

which he doesn't usually do the

1:00:16

cabin rental people said, Hey,

1:00:18

you're not here because check in time

1:00:20

was at three. And they texted him

1:00:22

at 504 or

1:00:24

something and said, you're not here. So

1:00:27

we're going to put the keys for

1:00:29

the cabin in the late arrival box.

1:00:31

And he texted back. Thank you. Then

1:00:33

I think my dad called, protected him

1:00:35

and he shut his phone off or

1:00:37

somebody said his phone off. I

1:00:40

called the oral grande pit stop, which

1:00:42

is like a little gas station convenience store.

1:00:45

And I said, do you have working

1:00:47

cameras? And they said yes. And I

1:00:49

said, okay, my son was there supposedly

1:00:52

there this date. And she

1:00:54

said, okay, can you call back? You

1:00:56

know, when my husband's here, he knows how to

1:00:58

do that. So I called

1:01:01

Detective Lockridge and the military

1:01:03

police. And they went and looked and said,

1:01:05

yes, that was my son. And he was

1:01:07

fine. But I've never seen it.

1:01:10

It was a visa card. The time I

1:01:12

found it 818. And

1:01:15

then for white sounds missile range,

1:01:17

he got two beers at

1:01:19

whatever time 1815 as

1:01:22

Lieutenant Baker said, his car was gone

1:01:25

at 130. I'm like, where was he

1:01:27

then? Could he get into the town?

1:01:29

And he's like, no, not really. And I said,

1:01:31

well, could he get into some part of the

1:01:33

base? He shouldn't have been. And he's like, no,

1:01:35

that couldn't have happened. Then what was he doing

1:01:38

from 12 to

1:01:41

18? And nobody saw him.

1:01:43

If he went out the front gate, like

1:01:45

they said, the Las Cruces gate, he would

1:01:48

have had to drive around backwards towards the

1:01:50

Oro Grande pit stop. So he had to

1:01:52

go out the back gate. The back gate

1:01:54

was going to El Paso. He was going

1:01:56

to Redoso. So there's no reason he should

1:01:58

have been back there. you can get there

1:02:00

from there. You just go up to El

1:02:02

Magordo. But I have a friend who has

1:02:04

a friend who works for Border Patrol and

1:02:06

has access to the license plate readers. And

1:02:09

he never made it to El Magordo. He

1:02:11

would never made it to El Paso. He never

1:02:13

came back into Las Cruces.

1:02:17

After Jeffrey's car was located, the investigator went

1:02:19

to Tracy's home to pick up the receipts

1:02:21

that they had found inside the car. Here

1:02:23

is part of their conversation. Here's

1:02:26

the receipts. That Baker

1:02:28

guy said his car

1:02:30

was gone by like 1.30. He

1:02:33

was on the base till after 6 o'clock. And

1:02:36

I was at full-tube detecting the santras this

1:02:38

morning. And he was saying that the one, the

1:02:41

one origami camera is not working. He's like, I

1:02:43

think that's where it may have gotten out at.

1:02:46

And I'm like, well, obviously if he didn't, we don't have

1:02:48

him on camera going up to Las Cruces gate or the

1:02:50

El Paso gate, then obviously that's the only other day he

1:02:52

could have went out without being detected

1:02:54

somewhere along. So I don't know if

1:02:56

that Baker guy knows more

1:02:59

than he's saying. Have

1:03:01

you spoken to him? I've tried contacting him. I know

1:03:03

Detective Sanchez has been in contact with him and has

1:03:05

talked to him quite a bit. It's

1:03:07

trying to find the time when he's actually

1:03:09

on duty and things like that that haven't

1:03:11

talked to me. So Detective Sanchez feels like

1:03:13

he's telling the truth. Like I

1:03:15

said, I've been in contact with Detective Sanchez quite a

1:03:17

bit. He's kind of my counterpart over there and in the

1:03:20

white sands trying to figure stuff out over there or

1:03:22

something. And they said that they could

1:03:24

see the pit stop people. He was

1:03:26

alone and that he came

1:03:28

from the South and then he headed to

1:03:31

Nordas, which makes no sense to where his

1:03:33

car was found. Right. Unless he went

1:03:35

all the way up to Alamo Wardo and

1:03:37

then back. But that doesn't seem like

1:03:40

a logical way. Again, the base itself, where

1:03:42

the housing and everything's at, the buildings are

1:03:44

small. But the base itself is a huge

1:03:47

base. And that's like

1:03:49

when they were telling this at Franklin Mountain when they

1:03:51

did the search, I think they were

1:03:53

telling the story. And they were like, oh, this

1:03:55

is a huge area. Oh, yeah. It's like

1:03:57

1200 square miles or something like that. or

1:04:00

marathons or whatever. Not near

1:04:02

where the car was, but nobody

1:04:04

had found anything. That way nobody

1:04:07

reported any clothing or anything. There

1:04:10

was a gap of time that Jeffrey was at the

1:04:12

missile range when it appears that he wasn't at the

1:04:14

bowling alley. And this gap is a

1:04:16

pretty big gap. Where was he and

1:04:18

what was he doing? His family had been told

1:04:20

that some cameras weren't working at the time, which

1:04:23

they find odd considering that it's a missile

1:04:25

range. When the

1:04:28

car was found a month

1:04:30

after he had gone missing,

1:04:32

I found two receipts

1:04:34

in his car. I

1:04:37

found one receipt for two

1:04:39

beers and it really

1:04:41

didn't have a heading on it. And Tracy

1:04:44

called the number and found out it was

1:04:46

the bowling alley on the base.

1:04:49

And they said they had no

1:04:51

working cameras. So then sometime

1:04:53

later, I'm not sure

1:04:56

if it was that phone call or

1:04:58

if it was a different one. They

1:05:01

did talk to this waitress and said,

1:05:03

yes, he got on the base at

1:05:05

noon. The visitor's pass specifically

1:05:08

said it was noon on

1:05:10

November the 8th. And

1:05:13

this receipt was

1:05:15

from like 6 15.

1:05:18

And then weeks later, the military

1:05:22

police finally said

1:05:24

they saw him leave the

1:05:27

South Gate at 7 30.

1:05:30

So he was on the bay for

1:05:32

seven and a half hours.

1:05:34

And that has been highly,

1:05:37

highly, highly intriguing to us.

1:05:39

But getting information from the

1:05:41

military base, if anything

1:05:43

happened on the bay, we

1:05:46

will never know. This guy

1:05:48

at the visitor center that

1:05:50

gave him the visitor's pass

1:05:52

that he kind of befriended,

1:05:54

his name was Baker. Well,

1:05:56

Baker originally we went up there

1:05:58

and Tracy talked to him

1:06:01

just a few days after

1:06:03

Jeffrey went missing and

1:06:05

he told Tracy that he

1:06:08

drove by the bowling

1:06:10

alley at 1.30 in the

1:06:12

afternoon and Jeffrey's car was

1:06:14

gone. Things just aren't

1:06:18

making sense. There's

1:06:20

what they call a public

1:06:23

area where the public can

1:06:25

go. Kind of a civilian

1:06:28

area that the military

1:06:30

can use and visitors

1:06:33

when you're on the base that

1:06:35

you can visit a couple of

1:06:37

these things. There could have been

1:06:39

someplace else he was and then he

1:06:41

went back to the bowling

1:06:43

alley and had two beers but

1:06:46

the receipt was 6.15 so where was he from 6.15

1:06:48

to 7.30? They

1:06:54

told her I believe that they did

1:06:56

not see him driving the car which

1:06:58

makes no sense at all because they've

1:07:01

got 50 cameras on you. They

1:07:03

told her they did not see

1:07:05

him driving the car but they

1:07:07

recognized the wheels and

1:07:10

the car. Makes sense? No

1:07:12

and that was it. They didn't show

1:07:15

him on any other plate

1:07:17

readers. After all

1:07:19

of that confusion over when and where Jeffrey

1:07:21

exited White Sands, Tracy was later told that

1:07:23

her son had left out of the El

1:07:26

Paso gate after all which she

1:07:28

had been told would have been impossible. They

1:07:31

kept telling me you know how much

1:07:33

video they had to look for. I'm the

1:07:35

one that figured out he went

1:07:37

out the El Paso gate and

1:07:39

they told me nobody could go

1:07:42

out that gate. I didn't see

1:07:44

any footage. The military base police

1:07:46

told me they identified his car

1:07:48

going out the south gate. They

1:07:50

couldn't see the driver because it

1:07:52

was really bad footage but nobody

1:07:54

saw him on the base except

1:07:56

the waitress at the bowling alley

1:07:58

and all the cameras were broken. except

1:08:00

the gate cameras. That sounds great.

1:08:04

What's so strange about this is that if Jeffrey

1:08:06

went out the El Paso gate, it would have

1:08:08

taken him about an hour to get to the

1:08:10

pit stop. And it doesn't really make sense

1:08:12

to go out of the El Paso gate if he

1:08:14

was headed to Riodoso. Tracy was told

1:08:16

that after Jeffrey made a small purchase at

1:08:18

the gas station, he headed north, which

1:08:21

was in the direction of the cabin

1:08:23

rental. And that would have been about

1:08:25

another 90-minute drive. This has confused Tracy

1:08:27

because Jeffrey didn't see well at night

1:08:29

and preferred to make travel plans to

1:08:31

avoid driving after dark. His route

1:08:34

included mountain roads, which would have been even

1:08:36

trickier for him to navigate. Despite the fact

1:08:38

that he had headed north, which was the

1:08:40

right direction, somehow Jeffrey's car ended

1:08:42

up back down south near El Paso,

1:08:45

all the way on the other side

1:08:47

of the Franklin Mountains. Did Jeffrey

1:08:49

just get lost and turned around? Or is

1:08:51

there more to the story? And this is

1:08:53

where we're gonna pick up next week. On

1:08:55

the surface, Jeffrey's story may look like the

1:08:58

case of a man struggling with mental illness

1:09:00

who may have driven into the desert in

1:09:02

a paranoid state and ran off, never to

1:09:04

be seen or heard from again. And that

1:09:06

could be the case. However, there

1:09:09

are some strange clues to explore,

1:09:11

like items found inside of Jeffrey's

1:09:13

car, what all of his electronics

1:09:15

were able to reveal, and why

1:09:17

it's been so difficult to track down video footage

1:09:19

of Jeffrey. If you have any

1:09:21

information regarding the disappearance of Jeffrey Spangler,

1:09:23

please contact the Las Cruces Police Department

1:09:26

at 575-526-0795. So

1:09:32

according to our forensic text

1:09:34

on the computer side, he

1:09:37

has an encryption on his laptop that they

1:09:39

are having a hard time getting around. They

1:09:41

said that they don't have the technology to

1:09:43

get through his encryption. Do you know anything

1:09:45

about that by chance, and why he would

1:09:47

have such a tight encryption on his computer?

1:10:00

it is. So obviously

1:10:02

you go to CIA,

1:10:04

FBI, and then period

1:10:06

out of the military base for six and

1:10:08

a half hours. I'm

1:10:10

a detective with the Las Cruces Police Department and I

1:10:13

was calling because I was told that you had some

1:10:15

video footage of a possible missing person that

1:10:17

I'm working. Right. Are you from Las

1:10:19

Cruces? Yes ma'am. Oh

1:10:22

lordy I've called there. I've sent that information to you in

1:10:24

the matter of how many times. Really?

1:10:26

I never got a response back. I've

1:10:29

spoke to an investigator over in White Sands

1:10:31

Missile Range who gave me your name

1:10:33

and number but that's the only thing I've ever heard. Are

1:10:37

you serious? They said that you were out. I

1:10:39

was in the school to give them a message.

1:10:41

Oh okay. And so I

1:10:44

wanted to let you guys know that you

1:10:46

wanted it, you know, if we have it.

1:10:54

So that

1:11:14

brings us to the end of episode 444. I'd

1:11:17

like to thank everyone who spoke with us

1:11:19

for this story. If you have a missing

1:11:21

loved one that you'd like to have featured

1:11:23

on the show there's a case submission form

1:11:25

at the vanishedpodcast.com. If you'd like

1:11:27

to join in on the discussion there's a page

1:11:29

and discussion group on Facebook. You can also find

1:11:32

us on Instagram. If you like our show please

1:11:34

give us a five star rating and review. You

1:11:36

can also support the show by contributing on

1:11:38

Patreon. Be sure to tune in next

1:11:40

week for part two of Jeffrey's story.

1:11:42

Thanks for listening. Bye.

1:12:27

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