Family Still Searching for Man Missing Three Months
Sep. 16, 2004
Tonya Papanikolas Reporting, KSL TV
Family and friends of a missing Salt Lake man are trying to find out what happened to him. Police are investigating his disappearance but don’t have much to go on right now.
Anyone driving north along State Street may have seen some large billboards with a man’s picture on them. The man is 41-year-old Jeffrey Nichols. He’s been missing since early June and his family is hoping the public can help find him.
Overlooking State Street is a picture of Jeff Nichols smiling and looking happy. But next to his picture is the word “missing.” No one has heard from Jeff since the morning of June 8.
Jeff’s Girlfriend: “He told me to call to wake him up. He was on his way to meet his ex to buy these golf clubs.
But his ex-wife said he never made it there. Nichols told his girlfriend they were meeting at 4500 S. State. His car was later found three blocks from there, but no Jeff. And his friends and family don’t know what happened.
Tony Hillyard, Jeff’s Best Friend: “I’ve been out in the garage crying a few times. He’s been gone three months, and that doesn’t sound good.”
For personal reasons, Jeff’s girlfriend doesn’t want her face shown. She says the whole ordeal has been a nightmare.
Jeff’s Girlfriend: “It’s one of those things you can’t possibly believe can ever happen to you.
Most of Jeff’s friends and family believe foul play was involved. They say Jeff never would have willingly left his seven-year-old son, Sam.
Tony Hillyard: “Something happened, something happened that wasn’t right.”
Jeff’s Girlfriend: “His son really did come first. He was his whole world.”
Police say they are following up on a few leads, but can’t rule out the possibility that Nichols walked away.
Det. Dwayne Baird, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: “If we had some indication that there was foul play, we would have an investigation that would lead us down that path. But we just don’t have that.”
Jeff’s girlfriend admits that Nichols was on medication for depression, but says he was taking it faithfully and doesn’t believe that has anything to do with his disappearance.
Jeff’s girlfriend: “To think that he was in a depression at that time, no. Everything seemed like if anybody had anything going their way, it was him.”
Right now the family has put up two billboards along State Street. They are offering a $10,000 reward for information that helps them find Jeff.
The family also has his bank account records. They say no money has been withdrawn and his credit cards have not been used since he disappeared.
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
Missing man’s family asks the public to help find him
Missing man’s family asks the public to help find him
By Ashley Broughton The Salt Lake Tribune
Date September 6, 2004 Page:B4 Section: Utah
It’s been nearly three months since Wanda Schmitt or anyone else has heard from her little brother, Jeffrey Dale Nichols.
If he were irresponsible, flighty, prone to unexplained departures to escape the pressures of life, Schmitt’s alarm bells might have only now just begun to chime.
But instead, they have been shrilling for weeks.
“It really is a mystery, what happened to him,” said Schmitt, of New Glarus, Wis. “We knew immediately something was wrong.”
Police call Nichols’ disappearance “unusual” and are investigating.
Nichols, 41, was last heard from on June 8 as he was driving from his home on Parleys Way to meet his ex-wife and 7-year-old son for breakfast at a restaurant near 4500 S. State St.
Nichols’ ex-wife told authorities he went to the wrong location that morning and the two exchanged phone calls, Schmitt said.
Wanda Schmitt is trying to publicize the case of her brother Jeffrey Nichols, a missing Salt Lake City air traffic controller who has vanished under suspicious circumstances.
Eventually, about 6:50 a.m., Nichols reportedly told his ex-wife, “I can’t do this now. I have to go.”
“That’s the last anyone heard from him,” Schmitt said, except for an 18-second phone call to a car dealership, most likely a wrong number.
Nichols’ truck, a white 2000 Ford Ranger, was towed July 17 after it was found near 4800 South and State Street. Schmitt said police have asked her not to disclose the truck’s location because of the ongoing investigation. Police said the truck was impounded on private property and is now in their possession.
Nichols’ bank accounts and credit cards have been untouched, according to statements forwarded to his family.
He has not contacted his girlfriend, who reported him missing on June 9, relatives or co-workers at the Salt Lake City International Airport, where he worked as an air traffic controller. His friends there believe he never would have chosen to walk away.
The most telling factor is his failure to call his son, Sam. The two were close and spent several days together each week, Schmitt said. “He loved that little boy.”
In September 2002, Nichols moved to Chicago to begin training classes related to his job, but months later asked to be transferred back to Utah, Schmitt said. “He wasn’t going to be that far from Sam.”
Nichols, originally of Virginia, and his wife recently settled a bitter divorce, which was final in November 2003, but the two shared joint custody of their son. Nichols had plans to build a new home with his girlfriend, Schmitt said, and had planned to take a trip to Wisconsin in late June. “Things were going good,” she said.
Nichols’ ex-wife and son reportedly have since moved to Arizona.
She and other relatives believe the circumstances surrounding
his disappearance are suspicious and are trying to raise awareness about it.
The majority of missing adults disappear on their own, police have said, and investigating such cases can be difficult and time-consuming.
But “the whole thing is odd,” said Salt Lake City police Detective Phil Eslinger. “It’s not the general, run-of-the-mill [miss- ing-person case], but then again, it’s not the super ‘whodunit’ thing, either. It’s quirky.”
He stopped short, however, of calling Nichols’ disappearance suspicious. “Some accusations are suspicious. The case as a whole would be better classified as ‘unusual’ at the moment.”
He would not elaborate further, citing the ongoing investigation. Nichols’ relatives, meanwhile, plan to erect two billboards in the Salt Lake City area with Nichols’ picture and information, and have set up a Web site, http://www.helpfindjeff.com. In addition, family members are working on setting up a $10,000 reward, Schmitt said.
“You hold out hope,” she said, adding a Salt Lake detective told her, “For your sake, I hope he did walk away.” I hope he did, too, but I think someone did something to him. He is unable to get in touch with us, or he would.”
Schmitt, her stepmother, Ann Nichols, and a friend were in Salt Lake City earlier this week to clean out Nichols’ apartment. “It was extremely difficult,” she said. “We called ourselves ‘Jeff’s Angels.’
She does not believe Nichols would have disappeared of his own accord. He had plenty of paid leave time from work if he wanted to sort something out.
“I understand that it happens,” she said. “I just don’t believe it did.” She believes someone must have seen something or have knowledge about Nichols’ disappearance.
Nichols is described as being 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing about 195 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. Anyone with information is encouraged to call police at 799-3000 or e-mail family members at helpfindjeff@yahoo.com.
aebroughton@sltrib.com
Let’s Help Find Jeff
Tue, 23 Nov ’04
Controller Missed by Family, Friends
By ANN Senior Correspondent Kevin “Hognose” O’Brien
Every student pilot learns that controllers can help him when he’s lost — “Climb, Conserve, Confess, Comply” and they can give you a bearing and distance to an airport or navaid, or vector you home. Some student pilots actually use that facility. Some pilots who aren’t students do, too (although they usually fib about it afterward). And even when you’re not lost or not even, as Daniel Boone called it, “a mite bewildered,” that calm, confident voice from the Tower or Center or TRACON is a comfort in the clouds or the night. Controllers are great folks who put up with many of the hassles pilots do (“fill the cup to the line, please”), and don’t even get the view from the front office for their trouble.
Well, here’s a chance for us pilots and other aviation folks to return the favor. Controller Jeff Nichols, originally from Virginia, stood up his ex and his seven-year-old son for breakfast in Midvale, UT June 8th, something completely out of character. He hasn’t been seen since. His pickup was found five weeks later in Salt Lake City — some of his co-workers had spent countless hours driving the streets looking for it. His bank account hasn’t been touched. He hadn’t made any preparations to go away. “I saw him the afternoon before he disappeared and he said he would see me early the next day,” Ken Whitaker, who worked the Salt Lake International tower with Jeff, remembers. His fellow controllers have made powerful statements about Jeff’s character and conscientiousnes, and the controllers’ union, NATCA, has joined the Salt Lake media in trying to spread the word.
Salt Lake City police are stymied. They have no proof of foul play, but they simply don’t have a lot to go on. Utah, largely populated by easygoing, family-centered Mormons, is not a hotbed of disappearances or of crime. (Jeff’s is one of only two new names on the state’s missing persons list this year). Jeff’s family offers a reward for information, but reward aside, he has a sister, parents, and a little boy who deserve to know what happened.
If you can help, call Utah Crime Solvers at 1-800-972-2255, or e-mail his family at helpfindjeff@yahoo.com. If you can’t, pass it on. Someone out there knows what happened to Jeff Nichols.
“Salt Lake, we’re looking.”
We Moved
The previous ‘helpfindjeff.com’ site expired without warning. During that time we lost the domain name. We are in the process of recreating this new site. Thanks for your cooperation.
Missing you, Jeff.