US Park Ranger Paul Fugate went for a hike and vanished without a trace on January 13, 1980. He was wearing his NPS uniform with the official NPS Arrowhead patch and a gold-colored NPS ranger badge.
Nearly four decades ago, on January 13, 1980, Ranger Paul Fugate took a break from his job at Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona to take a hike, and vanished.
Now renewed interested in the case has prompted the National Park Service to triple its reward to $60,000 for information that could solve the mystery.
Without providing details, the Park Service's Investigative Services Branch announced Tuesday that new information has prompted NPS investigators and Cochise County (AZ) Sheriff Mark Dannels to renew their request for the public’s help in solving the 38-year-old mystery.
Ranger Fugate, then age 41, was working in the monument’s visitor center on the day he disappeared. At about 2 p.m. that day, he left the building to hike a park trail and was never seen again. Ranger Fugate was wearing his “green and gray” Park Service uniform, including the official NPS Arrowhead patch on his upper shirtsleeve and a gold-colored ranger badge pinned over his heart.
Although search teams combed the surrounding area extensively multiple times, they found no sign of the missing ranger, a Park Service release said. Investigators suspected foul play early on, and a formal missing-person case remains open. During the first few years after Fugate’s disappearance, the reward fund grew to $20,000. With this renewed focus, the National Park Service is now offering up to $60,000 for information leading to Fugate’s whereabouts and/or the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for his disappearance.
Searching in Chiricahua is certainly no picnic, Rick Smith, a retired Park Service ranger, wrote back in 2009 in reviewing the case.. The park sprawls over 12,000 acres and has complex terrain with numerous canyons, arroyos, and barrancas.
Had Paul been killed after stumbling onto a drug smuggling or illegal immigration operation? Had he decided that the NPS was too conservative for him and just walked away? The latter notion was born of the fact that Paul had been known as a bit of a non-conformist. He was, for example, one of the first rangers who pushed the boundaries on the Park Service's conservative grooming standards.
Agents with the Park Service's Investigative Services Branch ask that any leads in the case be directed to them via any of the following ways. Your identity will remain confidential:
PHONE or TEXT the ISB Tip Line at 888-653-0009
Go ONLINE to www.nps.gov/ISB and click “Submit a Tip”
EMAIL the ISB at [email protected]
MESSAGE investigators via Facebook @InvestigativeServicesNPS or via Twitter @SpecialAgentNPS
Comments
THIS IS HOW CORRUPT WESTERN REGION NPS MANAGEMENT TREATED PAUL FUGATE'S FAMILY:
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/2018/1/6/paul-fu...
"In early 1981, Howard Chapman, director of the Park Service's Western Region, reviewed the case and decided that Fugate had voluntarily ''abandoned his position.'' Paul was dismissed from his role, and his wife was asked to return the $6,900 paid to her, plus 11 percent interest. Later, the demand for repayment was changed to a deduction on his retirement fund."
"Dody was told that no appeal was possible because a termination hearing must be requested within 20 days and the dismissal had been made retrospectively to early 1980. It emerged that on another occasion, in late 1970, Paul had been dismissed by for having long hair and a handlebar moustache. After a dispute with the service, Mr. Fugate was reinstated in 1976 and his back pay and benefits were restored."
"For six years the National Park Service refused to list him as deceased and his widow was unable to collect benefits. In 1986, the NPS and an Arizona investigator re-examined the case and confirmed his death. Dody was finally able to claim full financial support. Not the park service's finest hour!"
Man sentenced to 76 years in prison for Attempted First Degree Murder of NPS Employee
Contact: NPS Investigative Services Branch, (202) 379-4761
"The man who attacked a National Park Service employee in Chiricahua National Monument has been sentenced to serve 76 years in prison. The sentence was handed down yesterday in Cochise County court. Gil Gaxiola, age 33, was convicted in March of Attempted First Degree Murder, Armed Robbery, three counts of Aggravated Assault, Kidnapping, and motor vehicle theft."
https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1563/chir-assault-sentencing.htm
It was quite a stretch for NPS Management to conclude that Mr. Fugate had gone AWOL after he was still missing following a search. I remember this case when it happened, and foul play was indeed highly suspected. I would expect more corroboration before coming to such a conclusion, which delayed survivor payments to his wife. Maybe his appearance was a factor in this decision.
After searching the "Web", I came across this. Does anybody know where this information came from?
"Another possible lead was a park ranger from Cochise County in Bisbee, Ariz., Paul Fugate, missing since 1980 but reportedly seen in 1983 in Bend, Ore. An interesting case in itself, Fugate -- married, an avid outdoorsman who often camped by himself in remote areas -- was believed to have followed his pregnant girlfriend to Bend where he disappeared. She fell in with tree planters from that area and apparently went to Alaska, according to the report. Reynolds also noted Cochise County had information a Wisconsin man made a statement he killed a cop in Arizona during 1980, a possible connection to the Fugate case, but investigation details were not clear...."
Through GOOGLE SEARCH, One may locate several national OBITS under the Name Paul Fugate: the following is for the missing NPS
Paul B. FUGATE not respected by Western Region
Regional Director Howard Chapman; Why ?
Paul B. FUGATE
Obituary
Guest Book
"My family and I would like to extend our deepest..."
View Sign
FUGATE, Paul B. 9/2/1938 - 1/13/1980 On The afternoon of January 13, 1980, Paul Fugate a ranger at Chiricahua National Monument walked out of his office and vanished without a trace. Nothing from his apartment at the Park or his home in Tucson were missing. After an extended search; foul play has been suspected. No sign of Fugate has ever been detected since. Paul was the eldest of the six children of Braxton and Monette Fugate. His mother went to her grave never knowing where her eldest sons' body lies. Such tragedies as this could tear families apart but Paul's large extended family and his many friends continue to search for him and hope to find out what happened to him. Paul's wife, Dody continues to roam the mountains and hills of Cochise County looking for anything that might lead to a conclusion to this mystery. With a loss such as this there is no healing from the sorrow. If anyone has any idea what happened to Paul or where his body may be found please get in touch with Cliff Shipley ([email protected]) or Tal Parker ([email protected]) or Dody Fugate ([email protected]) There is no rest for Paul's family and friends without some conclusion to this. Over the years Dody Fugate has watched the Chiricahua area become more and more dangerous to search. Another Monument employee has been assaulted in the same area where we think Paul was killed. If anyone can be of help please help us end this continuing nightmare. There is a small plaque in Paul's' name at the Monument. This is all we have to keep a truly fine man from being forgotten.
This incident happened during the era when controversial and "bad things" were not consistently reported and properly investigated across the Service. I don't know if this incident fits or not, but it certainly does show a callous attitude by NPS Managers towards a missing employee under suspicious circumstances. It would seem to me that if Ranger Fugate planned his disappearance, he would have eventually shown up to see his mother before she died. And If he was murdered by drug smugglers who thought he was a law enforcement officer, any number of possibilities exist for what was done with his body. I hope his wife will eventually find closure in some manner.
One of the problems Paul Fugate had was because he had gotten (sp) on the bad side of a person high up in the NPS.
It wasn't a thing he had planned to do things just turned out that way. A strong part of the problems he had stemmed from that unfortunate incident. This is not heresay, by the way, the information actually resides in the records of a judicial hearing held in Tucson. The upshot is 'Don't ratttle the cages of folks above you if you are going to get killed later"
I can grantee Paul did not go to Bend Oregon or Alaska. But it makes good gossup, doesn't it.
Just more B.S. I was a ranger in CHIR when Paul went missing. I knew from day one that it was criminal activity that was responsible.