Search for missing man inconclusive, say some

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CANON CITY - Since a retired federal agent, Gene Fish, vanished from his home here on June 21, 2004, his parents have spent $80,000 investigating and offered a $10,000 reward for information that helps find him.

His friends and family engaged a geology expert to scour satellite images of his 35-acre rural property, searching for a possible grave.

They've even consulted a clairvoyant.

"I'm totally frustrated," said Gene's father, Bill Fish, of Fultonville, N.Y., who last spoke to his son on Father's Day 2004.

Bill Fish, 89, has cancer, Parkinson's disease and is going blind. He wants to know what became of his only child before he dies, but two years after Gene disappeared, he says few questions have been answered.

Fremont County authorities have rebuffed some of Fish's help but are pursuing other leads. They've talked at least twice with Gene's wife, Lynn, who told authorities Gene stormed from his home. They've walked the property where she said she last saw Gene. And they've reportedly tracked down a child Gene fathered with another woman years ago that the Fish family didn't know about.

"I do very much wish I could answer all of your questions right now, but it would still be inappropriate to do so right now," said Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker in response to The Gazette's query about the investigation in May. Lynn told authorities Gene, frustrated with his life, said before he left he might go to South America.

Gene hasn't used his passport, credit cards or bank accounts. He had a $4,700-a-month pension and a future inheritance estimated at more than $500,000. Lynn, who now controls Gene's assets, tells friends she wonders what became of him but that she's fed up with Bill Fish's relentless focus on her.

"They need to cut this lady loose and let her get on with her life," said Mark Trotta, Lynn's neighbor at the remote 5,000-acre development. "They're causing Lynn Fish a great deal of distress."

Gene Fish, who served in the Air Force and later worked for the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service and National Regulatory Commission, is described by friends as charming, handsome and popular with women. He became Lynn's third husband on Feb. 18, 1997, at the Wedding Mill in Las Vegas, after they lived together for four years.

In 1998, Gene called Joyce Shirey, a previous girlfriend who lives in Virginia.

"He wasn't happy about being married," she said. "He told me he made a mistake. I asked him if he already had been cheating and he said, 'Yeah."'

At 52, Gene retired in January 2003 and that fall moved from New York to Fremont County to join Lynn, who had moved months earlier. By April 2004, Gene seemed disillusioned, said Larry Durkin of Framingham, Mass., a college chum of Gene's from Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. "He said he was coming back in July to help his parents out," Durkin said.

"I asked him, 'How come you're coming for a whole month?' And that's when he told me there was trouble in paradise. I said, 'You're going to leave Lynn there for a month?' He said things weren't working out, and there were some problems. 'Wherever I go, she's calling me every 10 minutes to find out where I am. It's been going on for a while."'

Bill Fish said he learned his son had vanished when Lynn called on June 29, 2004, saying Gene had left a few days earlier out of frustration over retirement and work on the house.

On July 2, she called again, saying Gene left on June 21. But she told a neighbor, Dan Ainsworth, that Gene went to help on the family farm for the summer, according to a sheriff's report. In July, she told Gene's friend, Chuck DeLuca, a New York state police investigator who called, that "they" were working on the rock wall and Gene could not come to the phone, DeLuca told authorities, according to the sheriff's report.

By Sept. 1, DeLuca was suspicious and reported Gene missing. On Sept. 2, sheriff's investigators went to Lynn's house. She gave them a 20-minute tour, but no search was conducted, said then-investigator Clint Robertson, who left the Sheriff's Office in January 2005.

The most peculiar part of Lynn's story, Robertson said, involved Gene's pickup. She said her husband left in the truck - a gift from his parents - but said he would send it back to her. She said the truck later reappeared in her driveway.

No one has come forward to acknowledge helping Gene return the vehicle. On Sept. 7, 2004, the Sheriff's Office asked Lynn to submit to a lie-detector test. On Sept. 9, she paid $5,000 to retain attorney Michael Gillick, according to legal records, who wrote a letter to Sheriff Jim Beicker the next day.

He advised that officials "are to have no further direct or indirect contact with Mrs. Fish," and that "no attempts be made to search her residence or other property," because "she does intend to exercise her constitutional rights."

By Sept. 14, the investigation stalled. Robertson noted in the file, "This case is listed as inactive." Fremont officials won't talk about the case. In May, 11th Judicial District Attorney Molly Chilson interviewed Bill Fish by phone. She told Fish's relatives they've tracked down the mother of a daughter he fathered years ago.

- The Associated Press