I Reported Don Missing

Don has been missing since yesterday morning before dawn, which isn’t unusual, except that he didn’t call Anne McQueen all day and she said she even paged him into the night, and he still did not call her back. She said in all the years that she has worked for him that he has never failed to call her for such a long period of time. He’s been real pouty and moody lately and ignoring us when we talk to him, but we never know if we are being snubbed or if he just didn’t hear us. If it’s not important I just let it slide and don’t ask louder. We haven’t had a fight, other than the ongoing issue about him not getting keys to the cages and to that end, after he began just cutting holes in the cages to get the cats out, I gave him a set of keys and told him that I didn’t have copies of the bigger cats keys, but that I would make him a set soon. He doesn’t usually mess with the big cats, so I figured I could postpone him indefinitely on that point and he should have been happy to have keys to all the Servals, Caracals and Lynx. He appeared justified if not happy.

He’s been raising two little Caracal kittens (Elijah was one of them born 8/1/1997) and has seemed to take a great deal of interest and pride in doing so. He pulled them much too young and I am already raising a very difficult little Bobcat kitten (Catera), so I did not jump in and offer to do his midnight and 3:00 am feedings. He hasn’t dutifully gotten up for these feedings every night but he does the 7:00 am feeding. During the day he has made no provisions for the kittens to be fed, other than allowing every volunteer who asks to feed. We have never had a cub survive a lot of inexperience and I have been reluctant to get attached to them at all, because I have been so sure that his approach would kill these too. He began this while I was in Jacksonville.

I haven’t written much in a while because things have been going so smoothly for a change. He has been working on selling the scrap in the yard and having it all hauled off. He took care of things (with Jamie supervising) while I went away for four days in Jacksonville for the LIOC Conference and no one died or got loose. He bought my mother a sewing machine and my daughter several wave runners and gave me the pair of Snow Leopards that he knew I’ve thought about for a very long time, although I never said so. (As a later note; I had put plates up in the house with snow leopards on them and that’s how he knew I was admiring these mystical cats)

He’s been pretty reliable in helping with the evening feedings of the adult cats. He’s acted depressed and not very affectionate, but has been much easier to deal with in the recent past. Cutting up the cages, over breeding the cats and moving them from nice yards into small cages have been the only “hateful” things he’s done and I’ve just let it slide and then once he had forgotten about the cats, I would put them back where they belong and repair the pens. I get frustrated because there is always so much work to be done and he has nothing to do except impede progress, but I can’t really get angry with him because I know that he is no longer responsible for his actions.

Last Thursday he started complaining, more than usual about his diarrhea, but he was also complaining that he wasn’t getting his vitamins, when I was standing over him and watching him take them, so I did not pay much attention to him. Saturday he felt good enough to go yard sale-ing and brought home washers, dryers, guns, motor cycles and assorted junk for his impending export to Costa Rica aboard the Iveco.

That night he was in and out until midnight or later digging through all of his yard sale goods to pack. I remember hearing him on the phone with Wendell Williams saying that the signs would be delivered for the 26 lots on Monday morning. He was testing the microwaves and televisions and moving stuff back and forth between the trucks, trailers and sheds. He didn’t want my help, so I fed the kittens and went to bed.

Sunday he said he was too sick to go to church but when I got home from morning services he was out in the yard busily packing and sorting the box truck for Costa Rica. I finished making the signs for our 26 lots and then laid down because Sunday is the only day I get for rest. During the day, Don was in and out of the bedroom, scurrying around like a little squirrel, “reading” the newspaper, looking for more guns and motorcycles and planes. I don’t remember him calling anyone; maybe he already had. He was no where to be found when it was time for evening services either, so Jamie & I went without him.

Sunday night I needed ingredients for the kitten formula and trash cans. I thought Albertson’s was an all night store, so after the 11:00 pm feeding I drove up there. Albertson’s was closed. The station wagon I used overheated and I could not get the radiator cap off. I let the car sit for a long time and tried to start it with no success, so I began walking home. I tried to call my daughter, but no one answered. She never does.

I tried both lines at home, but the Bobcats had peed on the phones by the bed and I had unplugged them to wash them off and had not plugged them back in, so even if Don was in the bedroom, he could not have heard the phones ringing.

My brother was on patrol on Sheldon Road and was in the middle of an arrest, so he asked another cop to drive me home, but by this time I was almost there. I told Don about the car and he wanted to go get it right then, which was at around 4:00 in the morning. He was mad about me letting it get overheated and reminded me about the van that died the same way back in February while I was driving. Rather than argue, I just let him rant on as we went for the wagon.

I don’t know why the mad rush to get to the car, but I assume he did not believe me and perhaps thought he would catch me at something if he raced up there only to not find my car. He filled the radiator and it started back up so we took both vehicles back home. He gave me his car phone in case something happened, but who was I going to call?

I got home a few minutes ahead of him and when he laid down beside me he was calmed and tender. We only slept for about an hour or so and I was just dead to the world, when I heard his voice from the bedroom door. I squinted to see him and could only make out an outline because it was still dark outside and there were no lights on in the room. I looked at the clock but the lighted dial was out (I later found it unplugged).

He said to have the guys load all his stuff in the box truck for Costa Rica and to make sure it was running real good because he was going to leave “early, early, early” for Miami tomorrow. I had found out through Rich Reed, one of our Volunteers that Don was planning to go the Costa Rica before schedule. Don hadn’t told me, but often he didn’t. I suspect that he did not want to give me time to plan things that he would not approve, like repairs and scrap dealers.

I got back up at 7:15 and fed my Bobcat kitten, Catera. I had at first assumed that he had gotten up so early to feed his little Caracals, but they were screaming and ate more than usual, so he must not have fed them. Dad got here at 7:30 and I relayed Don’s message and asked him to relay the part about getting the truck running real good to Kenny Farr if he came in. A few minutes later Dad showed me where the clutch had been completely taken loose and when Kenny Farr got in he said that it was like that on Saturday when Don had asked him to carry the box truck with the forklift over next to the semi trailer. Kenny Farr said Don had some other mechanic doing the work for him and Anne tried to call the mechanic three times with no success.

I had filed the eviction and foreclosure at the Courthouse and the Taurus wagon overheated on the Interstate. My Jeep still had a dead battery. I walked down to the Westshore exit where I felt it was safest to depart and from there to a Shell station with a garage. Juan carried water to the car with me and what seemed an endless time later he got the car cranked and we drove it to the station. Juan showed me how the radiator cap had not been screwed down and the steam marks from where the radiator fluids had escaped on the one side that was tilted out. Apparently, Don did not put the cap entirely back on last night.

Maybe he didn’t screw it down tight because I couldn’t get it off the night before. I should have checked. He and a Jamaican sounding manager (who suggested that I try chickens and voodoo on the doomed car) worked on the wagon for a long time and then said the car needed $1200.00 in head gaskets and I told them I only paid $600.00 for the whole car, so I would send our wrecker after it.

I only had a little bit of cash on me, so I hired a cab to take me part of the way home and then walked the rest. My legs hurt so bad, I can hardly stand up.

When I got home, Anne was on the phone to Kenny Farr at my house and she said that after noon that she had been paging Don all day and he would not return her calls. I told her I had just gotten in and didn’t know if he was here or not. Kenny Farr said he wasn’t. I didn’t know until around 6:00 pm that no one ever came to fix the box truck’s clutch. At 6:30 when Don did not show up to help feed, I asked the kids to help me. I usually take Jamie out to eat after she helps me feed, but was a little concerned about Don’s not being here and I wanted to be here when he did get home so that I could explain about the box truck and why it wasn’t ready. I was afraid that if he got home and found it not ready, he would assume that I had not relayed his orders and might do something foolish to one of the cats.

I gave up waiting for him after the midnight kitten feeding and went to find him. I had already searched the yard and all of the trailers but did so again. I then decided to drive by some of his favorite places to hide, like the Westshore property, the Condos in Temple Terrace, the Sheldon Road property and some sleazy motels we used to use. I gave up around 5:00 am, came home and slept until 7:15.

Tuesday morning before Anne even went to work she called me telling me how worried she was and said that she had paged Don throughout the night to no avail. I told her that this is not unusual for him to do, but she insists that he never treats her this way. She said that I must hate her because she is always in contact with my husband, even when he won’t call me. I told her that I don’t hold that against her, because at least I can find out that he is safe and can quit worrying.

Anne was really frantic about Don not getting in touch with her, but I find it hard to get all worked up over him disappearing for a day because this has become so much of his behaviour with me that it no longer surprises me. I told her I would file a missing persons report and she decided to call the hospitals, morgues and travel agent about his tickets. She said there has been no activity on his credit card and that is how he usually buys his tickets. A couple days later the charge came through on his tickets for the 31st of August.

Monday Anne said that Wendell Williams went to “the farm” (100+ ac in Seffner on Hwy 92) and to Vandenburg Airport looking for Don. I find it a little strange that Don’s not gone more than a few hours, and the last place he was known to be was Wind and William’s, when he dropped off the 26 signs for the 26 lots, but who should panic and start searching airports, other than Wendell? The farm was a legitimate place to look because no one is there now.

Deputy H. Penia came out after I called in the initial info and took my statement. He said that Don is not in jail and that the info on his van will notify them if it is impounded or involved in a wreck. He said that they don’t often find missing persons who are adults because adults are free to do as they please and are more careful than children about not being found. He said they would call me, or the office, if they found anything, and that I should call them if Don comes home. He was very polite in dealing with a situation where it appears that I am over reacting to a straying husband. If he knew anything about Don’s history, he probably would not have even bothered to drive out here.

There were calls in the memory in Don’s car phone

263-3603 Non published, unlisted, not existing per Det. Fernandez

626-4193 The office

243-9760 7108 Riverwood Blvd Sherie and Simeon Frost

246-4999 Lazy Days Superstore

I’ve asked my brother, Chuck Stairs, to get a copy of our non long distance phone calls for that week if he can, but he says he will need a warrant.

After all the cats and kittens were fed Anne called and asked me to go check the Riverwood house because she says it is empty now. With Don’s mental problems, he may have gone there since we used to live there, or maybe he’s just looking for his gold. At any rate I drove out there and he’s not there, although the deer still are and someone left the gate standing open. I drove home and called Anne with no news and she said she wanted to go check out Tampa Bay Executive Airport because I had told her about Don looking at an experimental plane there last week. I didn’t want to wait an hour for her to get here and then have another hour round trip drive, so I told her I’d go look and would call her if my plane were missing, or if the experimental plane was missing.

My plane was still there, but the little ultra light looking experimental plane was not there. I called Anne on Don’s car phone before I knew that you could recall the last 5 numbers, so I lost one.

From the future: I didn’t get a copy of the missing person report until 4/28/1998 after my attorney requested it and the Sheriff faxed it to me.