NY NY - Colin Gillis, 18, Tupper Lake, 11 March 2012

[deca]

I probably wouldn't stop for a young man walking around, late at night, when I have my elderly mom with me either. My guess is the editor didn't think Colin was in distress at the time.

 

[Leomoon80]

I probably wouldn't stop for a young man walking around, late at night, when I have my elderly mom with me either. My guess is the editor didn't think Colin was in distress at the time.

Supposedly his arms were seen flailing as in distress or trying to get someone to help him, and that is why the man must have called it in.

I don't know what I would have done, but I think stop. My mother probably would have insisted I did. Although neither of us could swim, there are always sticks, nearby you'd think.
Maybe not., hard to say.

 

[deca]

I guess we don't know HOW his arms were flailing. I have seen a few homeless people waving their arms about and talking to themselves. Then there is the "Help, over here!" kind of wave.
I'm guessing that Colin wasn't making eye contact with the driver- because I would think eye contact plus wave would be "help!". And I am still not sure I would stop (given the time of night and the fact that I am female) but I would call the cops for sure if that were the case.
I guess it might be how we were raised. My folks always told me to be very careful of strangers and not to stop on deserted roads, take on hitchhikers, etc.

 

[Leomoon80]

I thought he was actually in the water when he was waving the arms? Does anyone know if he was actually there in the water or on land?

They say his shoe was found, but not the body.

 

[Quill]

It was my understanding that he was walking along the road when he was seen "flailing" his arms.
JMOO, I have pictured that arm flailing being a young man feeling extremely frustrated after leaving the party. Of course, it could have also been related to the cold.

 

[Kadence]

I thought he was actually in the water when he was waving the arms? Does anyone know if he was actually there in the water or on land?

They say his shoe was found, but not the body.

Hi Leomoon80, thanks so much for your comments! Colin wasn't in the water when he was seen "flailing his arms", he was walking on the side of the side of the road. I also think the shoe finding was retracted.

I sure wish things were the way they used to be and people weren't scared to stop and see if someone needed help but, times have greatly changed, and it's very unfortunate. I've heard of cases where a female looks for help on the side of the road and when someone pulls over to inquire, a men or men, jump out of bushes and rob them. I don't think Tupper Lake is like this at all but serial killer Israel Keyes owned property near there and robbed a bank in Tupper Lake in 2009 so maybe people were on edge.

I don't know how fast the editor was going when he passed Colin, I don't know if there was time for eye contact, I don't know whether Colin called out to him and perhaps he couldn't hear it because of a car radio, conversation with his Mother who was in the car, road noise, heater noise, etc.

I don't now what I would have done that evening/early morning, if I was a lone female, I might not have stopped, but would have used my cellphone to call 911 right away (how is cellphone reception in that area I wonder?) if I had someone else in the car with me I believe I would have stopped and rolled down my window a bit so that I could ask him if he needed help and offer to call 911.

I wish we could see a "reenactment" of Colin "flailing" his arms, I'm still not 100% sure he wasn't trying to flag someone down. Of course, I wasn't there, so...

I'm so happy to have everyone here to help find Colin!

 

[Leomoon80]

I see what you mean Kadence, it puts an entirely different light on the subject. No, I doubt too that if I had my elderly parent in a car (whoops, I think I AM the elderly one now, lol), that I would not have stopped either, but just called for help for someone who may have been drinking, partying, whatever, waving his arms. You never know with strangers. When I was young I took chances, but not as an older person now.

For some reason I was under the impression all this time he had been in the water then a totally different set-up .

Thanks for the clarification.

Deb.

 

[Kadence]

Leomoon80, happy to help out. I hope you will go back through Colin's thread and see what you make of Colin's disappearance, we could use your help and I'm sure the Gillis family would be very appreciative.

 

[Leomoon80]

He drove straight to the police station...I am not personally suspicious of him. I am sure he wishes he had stopped, but going to the police, under the circumstances, was the right thing to do... IMO.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2535269.shtml

Rosentreter thinks it was missing College at Brockport student Colin Gillis.

"I saw somebody walking along the side of road. They were almost in the road actually. As I passed them by I noticed he was, he seemed to be acting a little odd and he and no coat on and that warranted some concern on my part," Rosentreter said.

Rosentreter, the editor of Lake Placid News, said he drove the two miles into Tupper Lake and immediately went to the police department. He said the police called state police and a trooper was at the location in 10 minutes.

Also post 1 from the OP:

"On March 11, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from Gillis's mother reporting her son missing. He was last heard from at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 11, based on phone records. DEC Forest Rangers and State Police worked through the evening to gather information and organized today's search effort," Winchell said.

Does anyone know if Colin had an actual back and forth communication with his family at this time (1:30AM on March 11th?) .......Apparently he needed a ride then, had no coat and only ill dressed for the winter weather. Walking they say in the wrong direction of his parents house when 1:45 AM witness saw him waving him down.

He must have been murdered by those he fought with at that party. Some type of retaliation went on, imo.

Did he reach anyone at home at 1:30AM or not? Was it ever reported by his folks or siblings?

To be disheveled (if he was), and confused (if he was) then he must have been escaping something or someone and had been either drinking or even drugged at that party. Hmmm. So sad. It may be two or more guys, more than one who came up to take him away, (that's why the wallet was on the ground as originally reported) and the shoe was left. I think more than one.

 

[tarabull]

http://adirondackdailyenterprise.co...29838/Gillis-family-reaches-out.html?nav=5008


we still haven't heard anything about what happened at the party... and what were the items that were found?

Hope he is found safe and sound

Snipped from the link above:

Colin was last seen at about 1:45 a.m. Sunday on state Route 3, near the Franklin and St. Lawrence county line where Tupper Lake meets Piercefield. Extensive searching of the area since then has turned up only two of his personal items, found Monday morning, which state police have declined to identify.

Possibly one of the last people to see Colin Sunday morning, a motorist driving to Tupper Lake on state Route 3, said the man he saw was acting erratically. Rich Rosentreter of Lake Placid said he and his mother passed a pedestrian who looked like he was hitchhiking at first, holding his arm up in the direction of Tupper Lake, then switching arms and pointing the way to Piercefield. It was 1:45 a.m., and while Rosentreter passed the pedestrian, he immediately drove to the Tupper Lake village police station and reported the unusual occurance, though state police drove out shortly thereafter and saw nothing.

ETA: http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/...-miss-Rich-at-the-editor-s-desk.html?nav=5003

 

[ontheclock]

I want to know more about the party and the attendees. Has anyone in attendance made a public statement? How did he get to the party and who did he go with (if anyone)? Sorry if this has been answered previously.

 

[tarabull]

Gillis, a pre-med student at SUNY Brockport returned home to Tupper Lake Friday night. On Saturday night he attended a drinking party with friends at an undisclosed home on Paskugameh Road. Police say he left the party alone on foot, but they don't know why.

...The last confirmed sightings of Gillis was around 1:30 Sunday morning. At least three motorists spotted him walking along Route 3 near the county line. He was walking in the opposite direction of his home and investigators say Gillis was almost struck by one of those cars.

http://www.wcax.com/story/17137004/tupper-lake-teen-missing

(I never realized - or ive forgotten :blushing: - someone actually admitted to almost running Colin over!)

 

[ontheclock]

I wonder why he was walking in the opposite direction of his home. Where do you suppose he was going, on foot and all alone, at 1:30 in the a.m.?

 

[tarabull]

It is so peculiar...

Apparently Colin said he was waiting for a friend to pick him up:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY NY - Colin Gillis, 18, Tupper Lake, 2am on 11 March 2012

 

[tarabull]

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2543358.shtml

"...Despite a massive search this week, 18-year-old Colin Gillis is still missing. ... have found two of his belongings one of which was a shoe...."

The above quote was in the story when I first read it, but the story has since been updated to remove the quote about the shoe...I wonder why?...was the information incorrect or did the police not want that information to be released publicly? I did not get a screen cap of the original story...what I quoted above is what I got on search results page when I googled Colin Gillis shoe....the story today says nothing about a shoe.

http://brockport-spencerport.whec.com/
"...Forest rangers and family members are still working to find a missing student..."

I am starting to be really worried that foul play was involved...what happened to Colin?

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2535269.shtml

"..News10NBC talks to the person who may have been the last to see the missing Brockport student..."

I do not think this witness had anything to do with Colin's disappearance...in fact the witness was traveling with his elderly mother in the car and drove straight to the police station after seeing Colin.

What happened?

Do you suppose LE had the shoe removed from the media reports because it had (maybe even Colin's own?) blood on it?

:dunno:

ETA:

Snipped...

Police said Gills had a cell phone with him, but his parents say their repeated calls have not been answered.

Police said it will take a while, but they hope to use the cell phone's signal to find Gillis.

http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Search-Begins-For-Missing-Tupper-Lake-Teen-142327445.html

Well....what about THAT? What DID they find?

 

[ontheclock]

Thanks tarabull for the info and links. I'd also like to see the cell phone forensics.

 

[SunsetGirl]

Funny, I've been composing a post & getting links together all evening and all these great new posts show up that fill in some of my missing details! Thanks!!!! I’ve been following the disappearance of Colin Gillis since Day 1 – having heard it on our local news here in VT. I checked news reports daily for months, hopeful that he would be found. I’m excited to see all the new activity on this thread!!! I’ve asked so many of the same questions. For some reason I feel compelled to organize the details in my mind – of course, it would be nice if we had access to more information but I’ll have to accept what is available. I’ve scoured the internet, re-reading all news reports, listening to news videos, even searching Facebook (didn’t find much there though). I’ve put together some stuff that I found useful – I realize some of this was posted previously and I apologize if I come across as ignoring your posts – quite the opposite – I’ve eagerly read each post many times! I go a little crazy wondering where I read about a specific detail and re-reading the entire thread is time-consuming, so I'll attempt to consolidate some of the details. Sorry if this is wordy and random - there's no accounting for how my brain works

(P.S. I used Mapquest to calculate distances so they are approximate)

In the early morning hours on Sunday, March 11, 2012, 18-year old Colin Gillis left a party on Paskungameh Rd in Tupper Lake, NY on foot (not sure exact time or location – but the length of the road is about 1.3mi so assuming the party was at the very end of the road, he could've been walking about 20-30 minutes before coming out onto Rte 3 where he was seen at approx. 1:30am. So likely he left the party sometime just after 1am – I haven’t found any news reports to confirm this.)

http://www.tlfreepress.com/tlfp120314/page6.pdf
Quote from the Tupper Lake Free Press 3/14/12 page 6: "A local teenager was driving his cousin home to Piercefield that morning when they spotted Colin leaving Paskungameh Road on foot about 1:30a.m. where he had been at a party. They stopped and asked him if he wanted a ride and he declined, noting he was waiting for a friend to pick him up. The teen stopped again on his trip back to Tupper Lake, encouraging Colin to get in the truck, but he again reportedly declined the offer.”

Colin then walked west along Route 3 for another 1-1.2 miles where he was last seen near the county line (add another 20 minutes or so of walking which fits the timeframe between the above reported sighting at 1:30am (give or take a few minutes) and this next sighting at about 1:45am):

This was a really interesting news article - worth reading!
http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/529813/New-plan-for-third-day-of-search-for-Gillis.html
Quote: “He was last seen at about 1:45 a.m. by several motorists who reported Gillis acting erratically while walking dangerously close to traffic on state Route 3, near the county line. State police drove out to investigate shortly thereafter, but they found nothing.”

So it appears that Colin was outside in the elements for perhaps less than 1 hour at this point. According to Wunderground, the temperatures at 2am were around 20F w/wind chill (feels like temp) about 10F. For the north country, that is actually not that cold for nighttime. For example, right now it's -13F in the Tupper Lake area (with no wind). But it was still cold if he wasn't dressed appropriately and alcohol levels increase susceptibility to hypothermia. Physical activity (he was walking) can help prevent it, unless he was really sweaty or his clothes got wet from stumbling in the snow - that would accelerate hypothermia. But was it a factor at this point? Not sure.

Between the time of the last sighting (approx. 1:45am) and the state police arriving (about 2am?) – Colin disappeared.

My guess is that around 1:30am when Colin started walking on Route 3, he probably walked into an area without cell phone service (that was the last activity according to his phone records - I have more on that later). He thought his ride was coming but couldn't use his phone to check.

His personal effects were found about another 0.25mi west from where he was last seen - just to the west of Setting Pole Dam Rd and Rte 3:
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/534904.html
Quote: “Only two personal items belonging to Gillis have been found so far, both on state Route 3 just west of Setting Pole Dam Road, slightly west of where Gillis was last seen walking along state Route 3. Police have so far declined to characterize the items.” (I have lots of thoughts about that too - I'll post later.)

Did Colin then leave the ‘blacktop’ (pavement) and enter the woods? Why would he have walked all that distance along the road to then ‘post-hole’ (trust me, this is not easy … when you sink to your knees or deeper every few steps) through the snow to reach whatever destination? Makes no sense at all. It would seem that even though the snow cover was not 100% complete, that if he did leave the road and head through the woods (snow stays the longest in the woods, especially around evergreen trees), one of the searchers would have noticed the obvious footprints in the snow – unless he walked through a bare ground section (I suppose it’s possible although it looks evenly wooded based on satellite images and news reports indicated the deep snow/thick woods).

So, even if the state trooper drove very slowly, looking carefully, maybe Colin had stepped into the woods (to relieve himself, for example) and simply was not spotted. How heavily traveled is Route 3 at that time of the night? Could Colin have just continued on and no more vehicles passed him? Were the beginning stages of hypothermia/combined with alcohol/other substances impairing his judgment? Or did his ride show up? I agree with so many of you that it's very possible he was hit by a car. I doubt this stretch of highway has any streetlamps so he may have been hard to see (even wearing white - it kind of blends in the winter - you need reflective) or the driver could've been DUI. I know this is what the news reports said:

http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Search-Expands-142487755.html
Quote: "There is no evidence to suggest Gillis was struck by a vehicle or that he fell victim to foul play. Meanwhile, state police say they have interviewed between 50 to 100 people, many of whom attended the same party as Gillis.”

Is there always evidence when someone gets hit by a vehicle?

Ok. That's it for tonight - I'll try to post more tomorrow. Thanks all for tonight's helpful posts!!!

 

[ontheclock]

Thanks for your insight and research. I've read Colin's case since the beginning, but I haven't followed closely. It's good to rehash the documented information. I'm glad LE have interviewed 50-100 people "many of whom attended the same party as Gillis."

 

[Nugget]

Awesome post SunsetGirl!

 

[Leomoon80]

Thanks for your insight and research. I've read Colin's case since the beginning, but I haven't followed closely. It's good to rehash the documented information. I'm glad LE have interviewed 50-100 people "many of whom attended the same party as Gillis."

In particular those with whom he argued!

The story is so similar to the younger Mormon boy, Steven Koecher, that I think both of them were rather naiive young men, perhaps protected as all our children should be, yet not prepared somehow for the world and it’s riff-raff variety as obviously that party consisted of. He told his parents he was excited to go and see his old schoolmates, yet he also disappears AFTER an argument broke out, that caused him to leave the premises of the party? …..Hmm. Must go back to that party to find the killers and WHO left the premises around the same time that Colin did.

Did he have a ride that night to the party? If so, with whom? And who was the person he expected to pick him up when refusing a ride? Did he ever get through to home or was that person someone at that party?