TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #1

[SurfieTX]

The husband of a missing Signal Mountain woman has filed for a legal separation and obtained a court order giving him custody of their two children.

He said on the weekend of April 23 she removed over $30,000 in items from the residence, including her jewelry, his jewelry and jewelry belonging to his family.


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200931.asp

 

[believe09]

That is her DH's side. I dont know enough to know if that is true. I am curious about his take on the DV incident that prompted LE to advise her of safe houses. And it does clear up why the children were left.

ETA: He indicated again that she was being treated for psychiatric issues, yet PD says no. Hmm. I wonder which it is?

 

[believe09]

We need a copy of the MP Flyer. It would be great to get this posted on the site.

 

[believe09]

Sorry for all of the back to backs-now the passport thing is interesting-did she remove passports or a passport? Did she remove all of them, just hers, hers and the childrens, just the childrens?

The passport would indicate she was headed out of the country-should be easy enough to track her in that fashion, given the state of Homeland Security.

ETA: now this filing should be available to the public as a public document, correct?

 

[dreamweaver]

Sorry for all of the back to backs-now the passport thing is interesting-did she remove passports or a passport? Did she remove all of them, just hers, hers and the childrens, just the childrens?

The passport would indicate she was headed out of the country-should be easy enough to track her in that fashion, given the state of Homeland Security.

ETA: now this filing should be available to the public as a public document, correct?

Public documents are great... aren't they?

 

[dreamweaver]

The husband of a missing Signal Mountain woman has filed for a legal separation and obtained a court order giving him custody of their two children.

He said on the weekend of April 23 she removed over $30,000 in items from the residence, including her jewelry, his jewelry and jewelry belonging to his family.


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200931.asp

from above article

Matthew Palmgren said in an affidavit filed in Chancery Court that the couple had been married since 1996. He said his wife had been under care for depression and had become more paranoid recently.

Interesting that he says she is more depressed and more paranoid.
If that is true, what would make a person more depressed and paranoid?

I am sure LE will find the truth.
Maybe she is seeing someone for depression, maybe she planned to leave him, maybe she didn't want to see him for any reason whatsoever.

 

[dreamweaver]

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200886.asp
Matthew Palmgren agreed to stay at 40 Ridge Rock Drive and let Gail Palmgren take their two children . . . to their lake house in Alabama for the night,” according to the report.

“Gail was given phone numbers of a safe place to stay,” officers reported.

 

[dreamweaver]

http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14601268
"I saw her leaving around 12:15 that afternoon and I ran up the hill to say hi, because I knew she'd been upset for quite a while. Things have been going on at the house," said neighbor Susie Button. "She just drove away, she never even acknowledged me."

The day before Palmgren went missing, Signal Mountain officers responded to a disorder between Palmgren and her husband, Matthew Palmgren.

 

[paris_paris]

Thanks paris! When you say "I think"--do you have a link that references a strained relationship with the kids, or did you mean it in the sense of "I suspect that she..."? Just to be clear. :tyou:

I suspect... based on a number of personal experiences with myself/family/friends/children. I know someone that is having huge problems right now with their ex, and the kids (11 and 13) are worse than he is!

 

[daisy7]

The husband of a missing Signal Mountain woman has filed for a legal separation and obtained a court order giving him custody of their two children.

He said on the weekend of April 23 she removed over $30,000 in items from the residence, including her jewelry, his jewelry and jewelry belonging to his family.


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200931.asp

How would he have received notice that she had changed the PIN #s on the accounts, if they were only in her name?

 

[Kimster]

If she was depressed and such, why file for divorce and custody of the kids knowing it might make her mental state even WORSE? This guy doesn't care about her one little bit, IMO.

 

[fran]

http://www.wrcbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14601268
"I saw her leaving around 12:15 that afternoon and I ran up the hill to say hi, because I knew she'd been upset for quite a while. Things have been going on at the house," said neighbor Susie Button. "She just drove away, she never even acknowledged me."

The day before Palmgren went missing, Signal Mountain officers responded to a disorder between Palmgren and her husband, Matthew Palmgren.

I wonder if the neighbor actually saw her face, or assumed it was her because it was her car and she just saw a shadown or such of the driver?

JMHO
fran

 

[fran]

The husband of a missing Signal Mountain woman has filed for a legal separation and obtained a court order giving him custody of their two children.

He said on the weekend of April 23 she removed over $30,000 in items from the residence, including her jewelry, his jewelry and jewelry belonging to his family.


http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200931.asp

I think LE needs to get a SW for her bank accounts and such and find out when these transactions were! Pronto!

JMHO
fran

 

[believe09]

I think there has been ample time for them to pull everything. We know they have ping records for the phones involved-likely people she called and was close to. I wish we knew more about what Mr Palmgren has done to actively search for the mother of his children, but I am going to hold off on assumptions until we find some more information. This timeline seems somewhat strange given what you usually see in the family of the missing, but if they are affluent then perhaps he has hired a PI to assist the police should they need it.

 

[Pearl*]

In response to various posts, (I don't know how to quote and reply to them individually):

To make a couple trips up and down the mountain is not really significant. Those of us who live up here think nothing of it. I'd rather go to Wal-mart without children any day. Especially if already upset.

To leave two children of that age home alone may or may not be a big deal, depending on the length of time she intended.

Travel on main roads in the area was not an issue by Friday, and even less an issue by Saturday. That is, unless in the areas hardest hit. Residential areas were a mess all over the county and surrounding counties, but not the main roads after a day or two. I don't know about roads into Alabama.

Signal Mountain had almost no damage, as was already stated--except, of course, for the unfortunate people who had a tree across their house.

It is not true that "almost everyone" on the mountain is affluent, although it sounds as if these people probably are. I do not know them.

If it is true that Gail removed a significant amount of property from the house, changed PIN numbers on bank accounts, etc., in the week before her disappearance, it begins to sound as if she was making preparations to leave. It's a well-documented fact that if domestic violence is present, the risks multiply incredibly once the victim signals any intentions to leave, and even more if it looks like she's following through and the abuser has lost control of her. And why would she leave passports behind if removing important items? I wouldn't. It doesn't mean she's planning to leave the country.

He says she's left before? Most domestic violence victims leave several times before making it final.

Probably half of America is taking or has taken antidepressants. Especially people going through any crisis period. It sounds as if antidepressant use is being translated as "mental instability." And paranoia? Maybe she had a reason to be fearful.

If she's mentally unstable, then why did he allow her to take the children after the police incident?

If there was no crime committed, then why was she given information about safe places to go? ...and why wasn't HE the one to go instead of her? Is it possible that it was one of those domestic violence cases where she didn't want to prosecute?

Many, many questions.

 

[JBean]

Missing Tennessee Mom Originally From WNY

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, T.N. -- 44-year-old Gail Nowacki Palmgren of Hamilton County, TN went missing 9 days ago after dropping her 2 kids off at home. Family from Western New York has now traveled to the state to help find her.
http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/121086/37/Missing-Tennessee-Mom-Originally-From-WNY

 

[Kimster]

There's been a domestic call that we are aware of and now the husband files for a separation just days after Gail disappears.

I hope LE has been able to 1) have the husband take and polygraph and 2) search the grounds around the residence.

And is there a search going on in the surrounding areas? Where is that JEEP?

 

[Kimster]

Many thanks to the locals weighing in! It means so much! :grouphug:

:wagon:

 

[ThoughtFox]

Whether affluence has any bearing on this case or not, I have no idea, although if the missing woman was able to remove $30,000 worth of stuff from the house, well . . . they must have owned alot of nice stuff. :cow:

As a native, I'm just saying that Signal Mt. is one of the most affluent areas around Chattanooga, and it always has been. It is considered a very desirable community, let's put it that way.

If they were fighting over the house and the contents, plus the bank accounts, that kind of thing can get messy really fast. The hubby sounds like someone taking careful inventory of the money and the car - very exact, but not too loving.

ETA: Anyone who has $420,000 spread over 3 bank accounts? That's alot of bucks!

Kimster: I know nothing about any searches going on. I imagine right now it is just a police investigation, except for the sister who is putting up fliers.

I hope they find a surveillance video of this woman at the Wal-Mart because otherwise there's no proof she ever went back down the mountain on her own. A cell phone ping isn't worth much if we don't know who was holding the phone at the time.

All we have is the husband's word that she was "paranoid." Maybe she was just scared and trying to protect her own assets?

What if the kids told their father that Mom went to Wal-Mart and he confronted her there? Anything might have happened after that.

This is what bothers me also - there are only two roads up and down from Signal Mt, and most people use Signal Mt. Road (the main road) instead of the W Road. If Mom drove away to go to Wal-Mart while Dad was driving home, chances are they would have passed each other. Wouldn't he have noticed her?

 

[believe09]

Thank you for the continued perspective and eyes on the ground!!! It is so important in a case like this.

Regarding the custody filing-should she be located and available to tell her side of the story, nothing like that is irreversible. Thank God. Sure it seems on the surface that Mr. Palmgren is not all that concerned about her welfare, but he may be very very angry from the DV incident. I am not sure what their respective professions are, specifically, but there may be a lot to lose there which might make someone want to present the victim (for lack of a better word) as unstable and unreliable. I dont think that is unusual when it comes to an incident like the one that occured the previous evening.