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.
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.
Gordon had bought one of 7,000 5-acre lots in the sprawling Trinchera Ranches subdivision at the feet of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. He had been building a large home on the property for eight years. He and his wife were living in a nearby duplex apartment during construction.
Fureigh bought a 5-acre parcel in the same subdivision and was living in Costilla County under the alias John Busby. There was an active warrant for his arrest out of El Paso County for failing to register as a sex offender.
If you have any information of the whereabouts of either of these men, please contact Costilla County Sheriff Amos Medina, 719-672-0673, costillacountyso@yahoo.com.