Atombudd
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Ellen Beth Sloan
- Missing Sincev04/16/2005
- Missing FromvPolson, Montana
- ClassificationvEndangered Missing
- SexvFemale
- RacevWhite
- Date of Birthv08/13/1952 (70)
- Agev52 years old
- Height and Weightv5'4, 110 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionvA diamond and garnet ring on her left ring finger, a gold necklace with a yellow gold heart-shaped pendant with the word "Mom" in the center surrounded by multicolored gold flowers, and possibly gold stud earrings.
- Associated Vehicle(s)Silver 2002 Toyota Tundra extended cab truck (accounted for)
- Distinguishing CharacteristicsvCaucasian female. Graying light brown hair, blue eyes. Sloan has eyeglasses with small wire frames; she wears them only for driving and reading. She may use the alias middle initial G. She has small scars on her forearms and hands and a mole on the front center of her neck, and her ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance
Sloan was last seen at her residence in the vicinity of the 3000 block of south Shore Route in Polson, Montana on April 16, 2005. She has never been heard from again. She was reported missing on April 23.Her silver 2002 Toyota Tundra extended cab truck was located on April 28 at a shopping center in the vicinity of the 2600 block of north Reserve Street in Missoula, Montana, a few minutes from the Missoula International Airport. The vehicle was packed with Sloan's possessions, as if she had been traveling.
Sloan was facing federal tax evasion charges at the time of her disappearance. She had been released on her own recognizance after her arrest. Her attorney stated Sloan had been cooperating with authorities and was not facing enough fines or prison time to make her want to run away.
Her family states it's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning and they are concerned for her welfare. They reported her missing after she didn't show up for her son's college graduation in Colorado. She left behind her passport as well as a significant amount of money in the bank; she hasn't not accessed her bank accounts since her disappearance.
Sloan posted bond for her boyfriend, William Earl Gholson, shortly before her disappearance. Gholson had been jailed for incest, and was still on parole for the offense at the time of her disappearance. He moved into Sloan's house after his release from jail. While living with her, he ordered a computer using a line of credit in Sloan's name, and applied for credit cards in her name and her adult son's name.
Ten days after her disappearance, Sloan's son ordered Gholson out of her house. He subsequently dropped out of sight, but then resurfaced.
In 2019, he violated his parole by being arrested for possession of methamphetamine. He completed chemical dependency treatment and his parole was not revoked at the time, but several months later he was charged with assault for punching a Missoula, Montana woman in the face. His parole was revoked for this offense and he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for the violation. A photo of Gholson is posted with this case summary.
Authorities believe Gholson may know more about Sloan's disappearance than he has disclosed, but he has never been charged in her disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov
Family fears worst in Polson woman's disappearance
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
Jake Sloan doesn't want to give up hope, but he's beginning to think he'll never see his mother Ellen alive again.
"It gets a little bit harder to imagine every day," he said.
Ellen Sloan, who lived in Polson, hasn't been seen since April 16, when she argued with her boyfriend, Bill Gholson. At the time, both Sloan and Gholson were the subjects of criminal prosecutions - the 52-year-old Sloan in federal court in Missoula for an alleged involvement in an international scheme to evade taxes, Gholson in Lake County for alleged incest.
Jake Sloan saw Gholson, 45, in late April, about 10 days after Ellen disappeared. Gholson was still staying at Ellen Sloan's home in Polson, where he'd recently ordered a new computer on a line of credit he apparently set up in Sloan's name. Jake had come to Montana from Colorado to look for his mother.
"I kicked him out of the house that day, and that's the last anybody's seen of him," Jake Sloan said during a recent phone interview. "I think if we can find this Gholson, we might be able to find out what happened to my mother. He's the key."
When his mother first went missing, Jake and his sister, Breeyan, were at least willing to consider the possibility she had fled because of the income-tax charges that had been filed against her.
Federal prosecutors had alleged that she took part in an international tax scam known as Anderson's Ark, a shadowy organization with offices in Washington, California and Costa Rica. Anderson's Ark promised its clients that the company could help them legally avoid income taxes in the United States, but the company eventually proved to be little more than a way for its principals to steal money from the clients. Most of those principals have now been convicted of various federal crimes.
Some in law enforcement still believe that Sloan fled to escape prosecution, and the Lake County sheriff has said his department has found no sign of foul play in Sloan's disappearance.
But Jake and his sister, as well as attorney Morgan Modine, increasingly believe that something horrible happened to Ellen Sloan. And they believe that Bill Gholson is at the center of the mystery.
"I hate to sound hopeless, but I don't think there's a big chance that someone is going to see my mom," Jake said. "But if someone can help us find Bill Gholson, then I think that might at least help us find out what happened to her. He's the key to the case."
Gholson, who is 45, was supposed to appear in court May 19 on the incest charge, but he hasn't been seen since shortly after Jake Sloan kicked him out. Gholson was out on bond at the time of his disappearance, a $100,000 bond that was insured by property Sloan put up as collateral.
Ellen Sloan's Toyota pickup truck was found in the North Reserve Street parking lot of Barnes & Noble in late April. The truck was packed as if Sloan was traveling, and Sloan had, in fact, been planning to travel to Colorado for Jake's college graduation.
She also left her passport behind, as well as bank accounts with significant amounts of cash.
To Modine, those findings don't suggest that Sloan was fleeing the country to escape the tax charges.
"If she's running, she's going to run with money," said Modine, who is Ellen Sloan's attorney. "I don't think she even would have had time to plan a disappearance. She was a woman with assets, and nothing has happened with any of them. All the cash, all the property, it's still there."
Plus, Modine said, Sloan wasn't really facing heavy prison time.
"Prison time, if any, would have been very short," he said. "Now she would have had to pay the government back any taxes that she owed, but she has the resources to do that. To me, that just doesn't add up to someone running away from a case."
For the Sloans, those facts suggest that Ellen Sloan is the victim of a violent crime.
"The car to me is a setup," Jake Sloan said. "It's there to make people think she ran away. Gholson knew that he could say that she's running. It bought him some time."
Jake also made some troubling discoveries when he encountered Gholson at his mother's house. The first was a new Dell computer that Gholson admitted buying after setting up a line of credit in Ellen's name. Second, once he picked up his mother's mail, Jake found evidence that Gholson had applied for other credit cards in Jake's and Ellen's names.
"I don't think he's told anyone a consistent story about all of these things," Jake said. "He's got a different story for everyone."
Although Jake believes the Lake County sheriff's detective assigned to his mother's disappearance, Kim Leibenguth, is trying hard to find her, he believes the department in general has shown a lack of interest.
"It's been a very passive investigation," he said. "Even when they found the truck, they didn't do any forensic investigation on it at all. They just told me to drive it back to Polson so it didn't get towed."
With Sloan gone and Gholson missing for more than a month, a judge has approved the county's request to seize the $100,000 bond posted in Gholson's case.
Jake and Breeyan, already worried about the condition of their mother's estate, have taken the financial reins as limited conservators. Although the bond is likely a lost cause, they hope to settle the unpaid taxes in an effort to preserve part of Ellen's estate.
Modine said it should be possible to reach an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to repay taxes Ellen Sloan might have failed to pay because of her involvement with Anderson's Ark. Even if Sloan isn't found, at least her estate won't be ruined because of the interest that would accrue on an unpaid tax bill.
"We're trying to get that liability determined now so that the estate isn't damaged too badly over the long term," Jake Sloan said.
Ellen Sloan's disappearance has wreaked havoc on her children. Jake just turned 23, graduated from college and is on the verge of a career. Breeyan, 25, has a 9-month-old baby girl.
"This is a time that we should really be enjoying, with so many exciting things happening for us, but we can't really do that now," Jake Sloan said. "This has taken over our lives a little bit. And it's worse because our mother isn't around to be part of our lives now."
You can help
If you have information about the whereabouts of either Ellen Sloan or William Earl "Bill" Gholson, contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office at (406) 883-7301.
Family fears worst in Polson woman's disappearance
Jake Sloan doesn't want to give up hope, but he's beginning to think he'll never see his mother Ellen alive again.
Sloan, 52, was last seen with Gholson at a local casino on April 15, 2005, according to various news outlets and family members. Sloan and Gholson had been in a relationship for about a year at the time. She was well known in the Polson community and had commercial real estate holdings in Polson.
Valley Journal: Gholson sentenced to 20 years
A former Polson man who could be a key figure in a Polson woman’s mysterious disappearance in 2005 was sentenced at District Court in Polson on Jan....
