Pishon, circa 2000
- Missing Since 07/05/2000
- Missing From Seabrook, New Hampshire
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Male
- Race White
- Date of Birth 07/11/1959 (64)
- Age 40 years old
- Height and Weight 5'8 - 5'9, 165 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A Reliable Security uniform colored light blue over dark blue, and new boots.
- Medical Conditions Pishon has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He has difficulty walking and is often in pain due to his condition. Pishon may have been depressed at the time of his 2000 disappearance. He also has a history of alcohol abuse.
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Graying brown hair, brown eyes. Pishon may have a mustache. He smokes cigarettes and wears contact lenses. His nickname is Curt.
Details of Disappearance
Pishon was a police officer in Concord, New Hampshire for ten years. He retired from the force after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1994.
Pishon was hired by Reliable Security Guard Agency to work third shift at Venture Corporation in Seabrook, New Hampshire in 1998. (Venture Corporation manufactured plastic parts for automobiles. It is now defunct.)
He was living at The Hampton Inn, a residential motel on Highland Avenue in Hampton, New Hampshire. His family stated that he rarely socialized and was often depressed as the result of his medical condition. He drank frequently and had been fired from a previous security job for showing up drunk.
On July 3, 2000, Pishon paid his father $200 to purchase a gun Pishon sold him several years earlier when he was having financial difficulties. He had a legal permit to carry the gun concealed and loaded. He arrived at work at approximately 9:30 p.m. on July 4. His co-workers said he appeared to be in good spirits and was behaving normally at the time.
His supervisor checked in with him at approximately 12:00 a.m. on July 5 and there were no problems reported at the plant.
Around the same time, there were reportedly two cars full of rowdy Hispanic individuals parked at the Xtra-Mart across the street. It is unknown if these people had anything to do with Pishon's disappearance.
Pishon's vehicle caught fire in the parking lot sometime after his supervisor's phone call and was a total loss. He summoned the fire department at approximately 2:00 a.m. A firefighter reported that Pishon seemed calm despite the condition of his car.
Pishon's last entry in his log book was placed at 2:00 a.m. upon the fire department's arrival at the scene. Several co-workers taking a break saw him walking around Venture Corporation at approximately 3:15 a.m. He has never been seen again.
An employee reporting for work at 3:45 a.m. noticed that Pishon was not at his station. His cigarettes, packed lunch and contact lens solution were inside the guard shack. Another co-worker observed two unidentified vehicles speeding out of the plant's parking lot around that time. It is not known if the cars were involved in Pishon's disappearance.
An extensive search of the area produced no clues as to Pishon's whereabouts. He had told his family that he was concerned about possible illegal activity, including drug deals, in Venture Corporation's parking lot in 2000.
There have been a few indications of some wrongdoing, including the vandalization of vending machines and damage to one door on the property, but no other evidence has been located to support Pishon's theory.
Prior to his disappearance, he had told loved ones that he feared for his personal safety. He claimed that a co-worker had threatened him. The night of his disappearance he was upset because he had no backup in case anything went wrong on his job.
Investigators have said that the fire which destroyed Pishon's vehicle was suspicious. There was no sign of arson or any accelerants at the scene, but no indications that the fire had started accidentally either. Many of Pishon's favorite possessions were inside his car at the time it burned. The fire was so close to the guard shack, it singed the shack's walls.
The gun Pison purchased from his father was located inside his apartment at The Hampton Inn after his disappearance; it was still wrapped in the paper bag his father had sold it to him in. There has been no activity on his Social Security number or on his bank accounts since July 5, 2000.
Pishon's family does not believe he committed suicide and there is no evidence to lead investigators to theorize he killed himself. There were no deliveries to the plant that night, and no taxis made pickups in the area at the time of Pishon's disappearance. The only calls he placed from the guard shack that night were to his mother.
Pishon's medical condition would have made it difficult for him to have walked very far. At the time he disappeared he was planning to purchase a new car, and looking forward to a family vacation. He left behind his lunch, glasses and cigarettes. He has not collected any of his pension checks and there has been no activity on his bank accounts or credit cards since his disappearance.
Pishon's loved ones believe foul play was involved in his disappearance; they believe he was abducted and murdered. The coworker who allegedly threatened him had an alibi for the time he disappeared.
There is some speculation that his disappearance may have been related to his previous work as a police officer. He was a street officer who was not involved in violent crime investigations, but reportedly had affairs with two fellow officers' wives. No evidence has turned up to indicate that this had anything to do with Pishon's disappearance, however.
Robert E. April, a coworker, is considered a person of interest in Pishon's case. In October 2008, he was arrested for threatening to kill the brother of a man who owed him a small amount of money. In his threatening statement, April allegedly said he'd killed Pishon and buried his body. April hasn't been charged in connection with Pishon's disappearance.
Pishon worked for awhile as a police dispatcher after graduating high school, then joined the Army, where he served as a military police officer in Korea. He joined the Concord Police Department after his return to the United States in 1983. He has a bachelor's degree in management from Franklin Pierce College.
Pishon was declared legally dead in April 2008. His case remains unsolved.
Investigating Agency
- Seabrook Police Department 603-474-5200
Source Information
Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated November 3, 2012; picture added.
