Kin seek missing Utah man

From Deseret News archives:

Kin seek missing Utah man

By Jennifer Dobner
Deseret Morning News

Published: Friday, Aug. 27, 2004 11:05 p.m. MDT

Wanda Schmitt came to Salt Lake City looking to solve a mystery. Her younger brother, Jeff Nichols, hasn’t been seen since June 8 and Schmitt is desperate to find him.

“You just don’t know where to look,” said Schmitt, of Glarus, Wis., who

arrived here Thursday. “I came to this house and I’m thinking I’m going to find the clue.”

But there were no clues to be found Friday as Schmitt and her stepmother began packing up Nichols’ apartment. Nor have Salt Lake City police any leads in Nichols’ disappearance, detective Phil Eslinger said.

Nichols, 41, was supposed to meet his ex-wife and 7-year-old son, Sam, for breakfast in a mid-valley restaurant on June 8, his sister said. But after several telephone exchanges, Nichols said he was unable to make the appointment.

“And that’s the last anybody’s ever heard from him,” said Schmitt. “It’s completely out of character.”

Nichols’ girlfriend reported to Salt Lake police that he was missing on June 9, about 24 hours after he made his last phone call. The disappearance is considered suspicious in part because police have seen no activity on Nichols’ bank accounts or credit cards in the time he has been missing.

The case is open, but there has been little to no activity or leads in the past month, Eslinger said. He could not confirm whether or not police had located Nichols’ car. Schmitt said she believed the car had recently been found but that there was no sign of her brother.

Co-workers of Nichols from Salt Lake City International Airport, where he had worked as an air traffic controller, have also told police that Nichols’ failure to report for work is out of character.

Originally from northern Virginia, Nichols has lived in Utah since about 1998, building a house with his then-wife in Park City. After a difficult divorce, Nichols was offered a job transfer to Chicago but declined in order to stay in Utah and close to his child, Schmitt said.

“I just don’t see Jeff leaving his son. He fought for custody and to be with him,” said Schmitt.

Nichols has no history of mental illness, nor physical conditions that might explain his disappearance, Schmitt added. Nichols did suffer some from serious depression during his divorce, but all of that was behind him in recent months, she said. His job was going well, he was planning to build a new house with his current girlfriend and was slated to spend two weeks with Schmitt’s family in Wisconsin.

“If you’d asked me a year ago if he would ever do anything to hurt himself I would have said, ‘we’ve got to look at that possibility,’ ” she said. “But no, not now, not with the way things were going.”

Schmitt is convinced that something went “terribly wrong,” that Wednesday morning and she’s betting that someone out there either saw something or knows something. The family, she said, is hoping to offer a $10,000 reward for any information that might lead them to their sibling and son. Schmitt said she and Nichols have an extended family that includes step-parents and 11 siblings.

“We know that somebody saw something and we are pleading with that person to come forward,” she said. “This is a long, difficult process. You just don’t know what to do.

Anyone with information about Nichols’ disappearance should contact Salt Lake City police at 799-3560, or can e-mail Nichols’ family at helpfindjeff@yahoo.com. Information about Nichols, including a photograph, is available at the same site. He is also listed on the Department of Public Safety’s missing person’s Web site at bci.utah.gov/ MPC/MPCMissing.html.

E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com