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

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I watched an interesting TV documentary tonight called 'Murder Book' on the Investigation Discovery channel ... about the Mary Quigley cold case (she was raped & murdered in 1977) ... the night she was killed she had been at a party ... LE focused on a number of guys who had attended the party that night - it sounds like they kept going back throughout the years to their suspicion that it must've been someone from the party but they couldn't find any evidence (all alibis checked out & eventually all were ruled out by DNA testing) ... almost 30yrs later they finally get a DNA match - turns out it was a guy that had been one of her classmates but who hadn't been at the party that night. (Very interesting episode - I won't give all the details away!)

It just made me think that it IS possible (but IMO only remotely) that Colin's disappearance had absolutely nothing to do with the party that night, the kids at the party or the fights ... whoever is responsible may be completely off the radar at this time.
 
Just revisiting some articles/facts of the case.

Article from 2013
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130312/DCO01/703129876

Setting Pole is a little over a mile from Paskungameh Rd.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/44....28,-74.534934,2461m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e2

Hi Andalso. Thanks for this recap ... I do believe that was inaccurate reporting about his personal effects being found on Setting Pole Dam Rd ... if I remember correctly it was clarified that they were found on Rte 3 just to the west of Setting Pole Dam Rd. In either case, it was over 1 mile from the party location. Eyewitness reports seem to match that Colin had walked in that direction and he was spotted not far from where his belongings were found.
 
http://www.adirondackdailyenterpris...tail/id/548775/Nason-looks-back.html?nav=5008

Tupper Police Chief BN retired...
He discussed his 'biggest cases' and the 'loose ends' he has left behind..yet surprisingly no mention of Colin. I would think Colin missing would fall into one of those 2 categories..or both...but no mention...IMO, that is strange. Note: he mentions 2 other missing persons cases....just not Colin.
 
Just curious, can anyone find anything about Duncan Morris being missing?

(The article linked above is for paid subs only so not sure who the other missing person is that is mentioned, but yet not Colin)

Where is Colin Gillis?

:candle:
 
Just curious, can anyone find anything about Duncan Morris being missing?

(The article linked above is for paid subs only so not sure who the other missing person is that is mentioned, but yet not Colin)

Where is Colin Gillis?

:candle:

Tara...I can't get to the article with my link, sorry, but if you type into google BN tupper lake retired adirondack daily enterprise it will show up, then click on the link and it will let you see the full article. Maybe that will work for you.

Actually, Duncan wasn't one of the missing in the article...

The most serious cases he's dealt with, Nason said, were the two murder cases in the village during his tenure. The first was the death of Duncan Morris, when Nason was a sergeant. The boy's father, Nicholas Morris, eventually pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Nason also said he has pictures of Gary Sklaryk, Paul McKay and Wesley Wamsganz, among others. Those names are linked with some of the other big cases Nason was involved in

Other big cases during his tenure include the disappearance of Wamsganz, a 22-year-old Saranac Laker who was last seen in the High Peaks Wilderness in November 2010, and Sklaryk, a 55-year-old who was missing for three months in early 2011 until his body was found buried under in a snowbank behind a home on Keene Street. He died of exposure, an autopsy later found.

Nason also named the January disappearance of McKay, an Australian Army captain, as another big case. The body of McKay, who had traveled to Saranac Lake for reasons no one appears to know, was found on a shoulder of Scarface Mountain after a two-week search. The coroner determined he committed suicide by hypothermia.

"I remember scenes that I would like to forget," Nason said.

http://www.adirondackdailyenterpris...tail/id/548775/Nason-looks-back.html?nav=5008
linking again, but you may have to go my round about route mentioned above to actually read without a subscription.
 
That is odd that Colin wasn't included.

Probably a honest mistake, but I don't see how you could forget a case that has had quite the impact on the North Country.
 
" Mr. Gillis’s relatives said it took 30 to 60 minutes for the authorities to respond to the sighting, near the border of Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties. By the time a state trooper arrived, Mr. Gillis was gone. (bbm) I had wondered about the time frame between the last admitted sighting by RR (newspaper editor) and when the state police actually drove along that road. Previous news reports varied but all implied a much quicker response than stated here. So this is interesting. "

New to the forum (joined for S Montgomery ) and thread.

It makes you wonder if the state police could be a suspect, if the editor saw him and the police were the next logical person headed that way.
 
"Previous news reports varied but all implied a much quicker response than stated here."

So,the editor went right to the police station to report Colin, but yet the police took as much as 60 minutes to respond???

Or maybe the police did respond right away, and something went down, and you had 40 or 50 minutes to cover something up. Why would they wait that long, if the driver showed so much urgency to inform them?
 
post#18

http://tupperlakepress.com/2012/03/s...raws-hundreds/

" One of the first parties to go out Monday apparently found Colin’s DRIVERS LICENSE on the edge of the south side of the road, west of the intersection of Route 3 and Setting Pole Dam Road, where their search began. "

Who do people give their driver's license too?
1. Bartenders
2. Cops

There weren't no bartenders out on that road.
 
Also, you have people who go around impersonating as police, but I would rule that out, because they would not have known this guy was walking, whereas the police were informed. It just seems odd to me that a license would be found, almost as if that was a message. Why would you specifically take that out?

Good luck in your search for Collin. I wish you the best and prayers to you.
 
I wonder how a bright kid like Collin would interact with state police, while possibly in a drunken state. Would he question their authority? Did he ever encounter police in his past? It might have been a new experience.

If his hands were swaying back and forth as the driver said, did the police think he had a gun, and shoot him by mistake?
 
Also, you have people who go around impersonating as police, but I would rule that out, because they would not have known this guy was walking, whereas the police were informed. It just seems odd to me that a license would be found, almost as if that was a message. Why would you specifically take that out?

Good luck in your search for Collin. I wish you the best and prayers to you.

Welcome TMAN2014!! It's so helpful to have new eyes reviewing these details! And it's interesting that you brought up the question - could LE somehow be involved in the disappearance of Colin? Others have asked the same thing ... especially since Colin's license was found on the ground. Thank you so much for joining us here!!!
 
I wonder how a bright kid like Collin would interact with state police, while possibly in a drunken state. Would he question their authority? Did he ever encounter police in his past? It might have been a new experience.

If his hands were swaying back and forth as the driver said, did the police think he had a gun, and shoot him by mistake?

Excellent questions!!! I was dismayed to find out the police didn't respond immediately ... however I admit I don't really understand how that works:

RR the newspaper editor goes to the Tupper Lake PD so why didn't they respond - why the state police? Is that normal if something is on a State road? Or was the Tupper Lake PD too shorthanded that night?
 
Press Republican article March 13, 2012
http://m.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/article_9e9de5cd-363f-5095-86f0-e750fa1058ad.html?mode=jqm


State Police and DEC have interviewed Rich Rosentreter, editor of the Lake Placid News, who was driving home from Potsdam toward Tupper Lake on Sunday morning with his mother in his pickup truck when they saw a man walking along Route 3.

"I was coming home with my mom, who lives in Tupper Lake, about 1:45 in the morning. We were headed east on State Route 3. Right by the county line, I saw somebody walking on the side of the road (against traffic), pretty close to on the white line, heading west towards Piercefield. "It was before the turn to Setting Pole Dam Road.

"I didn't know who it was, but it was dark," he said, "and I was driving about 50 miles per hour, slower than usual because there were a lot of deer. I could tell it was a male — he was just walking.

"At first it looked like he was hitchhiking — he had one arm down, then he put the other arm up. But he was walking against traffic, in the opposite direction to be hitchhiking.

"To me, it was odd. And he had no coat on. It looked like the sleeves of his shirt were white; it looked like three-quarter sleeves to me."

Rosentreter did not recognize the person.

"But it was obviously a male."

Headed east, Rosentreter was driving opposite the man's course of travel on foot.

He reported what he had seen to authorities a few minutes later.

"It was odd enough to me that what I did was drove into Tupper Lake and went to the Tupper Lake Police Department, actually, and told them just what I had seen."

He said he spoke to Sergeant Eric Proulx, who reported the incident to State Police.

(bbm) ... interesting he says the speed he was driving was slower than usual - so other cars may have been going much faster!
 
Who EXACTLY was the last person to see Colin???
 
I get the feeling the editor fellow might have felt in danger with his mom in the car at that late hour. The party goers look obvious, but they are going to leave the party to chase Colin down at that hour? The license really sticks out to me. Hypothermia could be an obvious answer too. You would wish the editor had the common decency to stop, but we live in a diferent world today.

I would be interested to know was it one policeman or 2 who looked for him, and I would like to know his name, and past. I work in Accounting, and everything has a check and balance. I would like to know those check and balances in LE, with times of events, who has access to what information, who knows who, do outside people review procedures, etc.

Thanks for letting me by a part of Team Colin. :)
 
What are the final facts about this shoe? Was the info initially released, but then drawn back by LE?

You can't go too far without your shoe. Could a perpetrator have planted this shoe at a convenient place, away from the actual possible crime location to throw people off the trail?

I tried to read most of the thread, but I skipped around.
 
What are the final facts about this shoe? Was the info initially released, but then drawn back by LE?

You can't go too far without your shoe. Could a perpetrator have planted this shoe at a convenient place, away from the actual possible crime location to throw people off the trail?

I tried to read most of the thread, but I skipped around.

Hi TMAN2014 ... it was NOT a shoe found. That was incorrectly reported in the beginning and then retracted.

As far as we all know there were only 2 items found on the road that belonged to Colin ... his driver's license and his 'tobacco' pipe (that info was only just made public in this most recent news article ... http://nyti.ms/12aVmVA)

That New York Times article from Nov 30, 2014 is pretty complete ... the only noted error was that they stated Colin left the party in a coat and carrying a backpack. That info has not been able to be confirmed apparently. RR the newspaper editor insisted he was not wearing a coat when he saw him. The coat & backpack never turned up.
 
Who EXACTLY was the last person to see Colin???

Tarabull - that IS the million dollar question! Because most likely the last person who saw Colin knows where he is. (Sigh!)

I know you're asking who the last eyewitness is ... I do not think that info has been revealed - if it's known. Perhaps the Gillis family knows ... if the detectives shared that with them.

I'm going from memory (too many pages to sift through to find our posts earlier on this) ...

There were at least 3 drivers who saw someone walking that night ...

Driver A ... Initials AT with passenger JA
based on where he says he saw Colin he was probably the first

Driver B ... a woman and her child (she said she almost hit him!)

Driver C ... RR the newspaper editor w/his mom ... saw him near the town line

Driver A ... drops off passenger, drives back by and claims he stopped again to offer Colin a ride

I cannot tell with what little info we have who was the last to see Colin ... but it seems LE has an idea.
 
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