TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011 - #2

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I wish I could make this make sense to me, but I can't.

If she planned to fight for them, she would never leave them. If she had wanted to run without them to "get her head together," she would not have taken them to Alabama the day before she disappeared. My opinion....unfortunately.

Furthermore, I would speculate that there must have been some plan in place to manipulate her to leave the house alone. Without the children. Whoever wanted her to disappear did not want the children to disappear with her.

I was thinking about this too. According to this article regarding Matt, "He said he proposed to meet Mrs. Palmgren at the residence on April 30." I was wondering if perhaps there was a request to meet him somewhere else to talk, but not in front of the kids (e.g. did they have a favorite park or hiking spot). Then I was thinking perhaps she went out to get something in town, with the intention of being back soon. But if she was scared and thought she was being followed (per her conversation with her sister), would she have left the kids alone in the house even for a short time without asking her neighbor/friend Susan to keep an eye out for them, and without telling anyone where she was going? Just trying to think of scenarios...

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_200931.asp
 
Yes! There should be camera's in their parking lots there. Most of them do in San Destin I think. This is a major resort area.

I should note that around the time of ShowerSinger's comment, I think there was some confusion as to whether Gail's Jeep had the "arkansascrawlers.com" sticker on it. It doesn't. But as far as following up on the resort sighting, ShowerSinger was asked to call LE and Sleuthy1 sent the info on to the resort:

[ame="http://websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6488235&postcount=457"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - TN TN - Gail Nowacki Palmgren, 44, Signal Mountain, 30 April 2011[/ame]
 
Yes, and articles keep referring to THREE 911 calls during that time period. April 22, April 29, and where's the other one? Are we counting the call to report her missing as #3, or was there another one between the 22nd and the 29th?
the third call is in all likelihood on May 2 to report Gail missing

Friday, April 22, 2011

First 911 call—dispute regarding travel in vehicles to lake house

Friday, April 29, 2011

Second 911 call—Gail given numbers for safe place to stay. Resolved when “Matthew Palmgren agreed to stay at 40 Ridgerock Drive and let Gail Palmgren take their two children…to their lake house in Wetumpka, AL for the night,” according to police report

40 Ridgerock Drive, Signal Mountain, TN 37377-2100
to 439 Easy St, Wetumpka, AL 36092-3406
http://mapq.st/jcTz7M

Gail stopped at Arlene Durham's home in Titus, AL
just north of Wetumpka, on the night of April 29

Saturday, April 30, 2011

12:15 pm: Gail brought children home to
40 Ridgerock Drive, Signal Mountain, TN 37377-2100
http://bit.ly/lVUChL
and left sans driver's license, credit cards
driving a Dark Red Jeep Wrangler Rubicon http://bit.ly/m7RYJA
any phone pings?

Matt P. said he was at his mothers (25 minutes away)
he proposed to meet Mrs. Palmgren at the residence on April 30
,

http://bit.ly/kAOioC
but when he arrived (at what time?) she was gone,
having left the two children "by themselves without any supervision."

Monday, May 2, 2011

Third 911 call: Gail is reported as missing
Gail Palmgren http://bit.ly/m9mHfw

5:00 pm: WalMart area cell phone ping
Walmart 501 Signal Mountain Rd, Chattanooga, TN
http://bit.ly/ilncK7
which cell phone service did Gail have?

ATT Sprint Verizon Cell Towers
http://bit.ly/mT5X8h (scroll down, filter)

topo mao
http://bit.ly/j5LSV6
http://bit.ly/kHu0rY
 
I'm just wondering if she left the children alone for just a few minutes thinking her husband would be right there and got out of there before her husband got home in order to avoid a confrontation in front of the children. It sounds like there had been a lot going on in that household with LE being called out several times.
 
I'm just surprised that LE didn't ask him to leave the premises rather than Gail having to take the children to AL.
 
ITA Snowbunny. That she thought he would be there any minute so she left to avoid a confrontation with the kids in the middle.
 
Does anyone know the TN Divorce Laws? I am wondering, if a spouse finds evidence of cheating can they take more of their joint money as a settlement and ask for full custody of the children?
 
OMG - that's a great point about the cellphone number. But to me the restraining order is really proof of his true feelings - he doesn't want her to come back, apparently, even if she is in trouble or has "mental" issues (according to him).

Why are all these cases so similar? It often boggles my mind. And they all start out the same way but end badly (if they ever end at all).

Well, somewhere here I saw JBean say that the bulk of this $$ is actually Gail's from her retirement 401K......but, recall the hubby said this is 'marital funds.'

Well, yes, he's absolutely right!.........ehhhhhh..............that is UNTIL they either die or divorce................but until a DEATH or a DIVORCE, it would be GAIL'S.

IMHO, or.................................1/2 her's and 1/2 his AND she'd get 1/2 his 401K ............................upon a divorce....................but in DEATH, he gets 100% of BOTH!

So, back to square ONE..................it WAS and IS GAIL'S! And her's ALONE!

Now, WHERE IS GAIL?

JMHO
fran
 
Couple thoughts...

Oh, and hello and welcome to all our new WS'rs! My heart goes out to the friends and family members, as well as all of the local people who have a concern and interest in Gail -- which has brought us all together.

First, I'm not liking this at all. In my dreams, Gail is resting, regrouping and will emerge with new strength. In my mind, I'm feeling the same discomfort that the many of you have laid out: woman leaving children she doesn't leave, passport gone but not DL? etc. and so on...

So the loose thoughts...
Gail going to Alabama, not husband...
Maybe the husband didn't go to Alabama (or leave) because he was soused and the police could not say "you leave until the two of you cool off." If he has a drinking issue, perhaps he was pickled at the time, became aggressive (to the point that caused Gail to become fearful of getting hit -- re:blackeye), and it all drove Gail to the 911 call. If/when LE arrived, they probably noticed he was looped, asked Gail if she and the children had a place to go and suggested she go -- he stay and "sleep it off."

Someone following Gail...or someone "spying on" Gail or both?
Girlfriend checking to see if Gail's Jeep was gone? Did she leave it parked in plain view at home or did she garage it on a regular basis?

Maybe hubby had a PI following Gail for a while prior? Maybe he had someone else "watching her" prior?

What was Gail's routine with the car, let the kids out to go in the house, then pull the car into the garage? If so, Gail could have let the kids out, pulled into the garage, had someone jump in the car with her, get down in the back seat area covering her with a gun and telling her, "if you want the kids to be okay, back out and start driving." If that were the case, it would explain her not stopping to talk to a neighbor with whom she was friendly.

Jewelry gone...
If jewelry was gone, it is likely it was hers and if there was some of husband's family jewelry in the mix, it may have been gifted to Gail. Since it looks like they were winding toward a divorce, since there were hotel receipts, it is possible that Gail feared that her jewelry would be yanked from her by husband and gifted and/or remade for the girlfriend. If it was hers, she probably wanted to remove it before someone who may likely have given her the blackeye decided to get ugly with the jewelry too.

Changing pin numbers...
Big dang deal... If they were moving toward the divorce, she was doing what was normal, natural and wise. Whereas there may have been Gail handling some $420K, there is no report of how many K got left in funds that husband could touch. This is a two "nice home" family who presumably worked, earned well, and saved -- it is possible that some 800K was left in funds that received no pin change. On the other hand, it is possible that there was less, but that there was a lot of equity in the home, and Gail knew the husband would want the home i.e. "I'll take this, you have that." Also, it is possible that some of the funds handled were 401K funds that got rolled into something when Gail ended her work with one company or another in the past. Husband would have similar funds, I would guess -- both sets of funds would be in their "individual" names, by law. Gail might have known if these funds were relatively equal, thus she just changed the pins on hers.

Not knowing Gail, it is difficult to know whether she was thinking, "I will only take what is equitable" OR if she was thinking, "I'm going to wipe him out." My guess is that she was the equitable type, after all...it sounds like someone blackened her eye and didn't get reported. Sounds like she didn't want to "dirty" the image of the children's father to them, or she would have discussed some things in front of the neighbor with whom she spoke in Alabama on the 29th (wasn't it the neighbor in Alabama that said she didn't want to talk because the children were present?)

About the "she left the children" and then some type of wording like "alone"...
If that man didn't know whether his children could be left unattended for a few minutes and some brief errands while parent was away, then he was "out of touch." IF on the other hand he knew they could not be trusted, or safe alone, then he may have set someone up to deal with Gail, make it look like she disappeared of her own volition, and further made it look like she was irresponsible in leaving children like that. i.e. making a case for him to get custody due to a chick that disappears and leaves minor children alone.

I think it is possible that there was alcohol noticed by LE in two 911 occasions. If that did happen, we have a few calls and possible overt inebriation of one parent making it more of a case for the mom to get custody. Why not set something up, have a mom disappear, make it look like mom abandoned, separate/get custody, not have to pay child support, make it look like "I just know you left without the kids you bad mom" ... That's supposed to look like "we're just disputing, she's cuckoo and left, I just have to protect myself and the kids."

Oh...and about not taking the kids out of the country, do the kids have passports? IDs that would be needed if they were to be taken out of the country? Is there any proof that those IDs or passports are missing WHILE DL is not with Gail?

No...you don't leave your DL, you need that to prove that you are the person on the VISA or AMEX card at times. IF Gail had intended to leave for any length of time, she would NOT have left her DL.

More thoughts later... Keep thinking everyone, good to see all the thinking caps.

Oh...Redfish mentioned something of a theory, Gail returning home, then thinking that when husband wasn't home when she arrived she might go looking for him at some place she thought he might be?

How far away were those hotels for which she found receipts? Did she go looking there? Was husband supposed to have met up with her at the house at the time she arrived home and when he wasn't there she went hunting to confront him? Was she going to call a neighbor and say, "Could you check on the kids" or "Go get the kids?"

Or...did she pass the person who had been following her on the way to the house, drop the kids off quickly then head out to follow them or distract them from the children?

We know she was scared, we know she thought she was being followed, we know that her DL isn't with her (why why why), we know she didn't stop to talk to a friend on the way out... She was in a hurry for some reason and no one has heard a word since, BUT her phone mysteriously pings on the day that someone finally forces a missing person report.

I'm sad, I'm not at all liking how this looks. Sadder still is that there is too much that has gone unsearched for too long.
 
I email SanDestin Resorts and they are looking into it....I have heard nothing back from them other than the initial response and they asked who the employee was that told me this...I said the person was anonymous...she was okay with that ... but have heard nothing since...they said they would help if they could though
 
From Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/search/Palmgren

WRCB WRCB
Sheriff's Office: Gail Palmgren has been placed in the national missing persons database. #missingmom

lindsjacksonNC9 Lindsay Jackson
But Elmore County Sherrif's Office does confirm they've put extra patrol around the Palmgren's Lake Jordan property & put out flyers they were given.
 
To some degree it sounds like LE isn't taking this case very seriously. I'm getting the impression that they just consider this another domestic dispute between a couple that was heading for divorce anyway and the wife just split, but after hearing that she had a blackeye, felt like she was being stalked and a neighbor verified seeing said vehicle in the area, etc they had better start considering the fact that something very wrong may have gone on here if its not already too late. We seen the same scenario far too often left unchecked and in the end someone had suffered at the hands of the abuser. I'm drawn to this conclusion because if Gail had just left one would have thought she would have at least called her sister, brother, parents or a close friend during this time but its been over 2 weeks and no one has heard from her. That in itself concerns me deeply and the fact that her cellphone hasn't been used since the pings that were reported. I have even thought of the possibility that she may have bought a cellphone that you buy minutes for but none of her family has reported hearing from her. Prayers for Gail!
 
Does anyone know the TN Divorce Laws? I am wondering, if a spouse finds evidence of cheating can they take more of their joint money as a settlement and ask for full custody of the children?

I'm no expert (not divorced) and every case is different, but in Tennessee we have no-fault divorce with just the idea of "irreconcilable differences."

http://research.lawyers.com/Tennessee/Divorce-in-Tennessee.html

Tennessee has both no-fault and fault divorces. For a no-fault divorce, there only needs to be a statement that there are irreconcilable differences within the marriage and a showing the spouses have lived apart for two years. Note that you and your spouse need to agree on child support, custody, and property and debt division issues. In a no-fault divorce, there is a waiting period of 60 days from the complaint filing date before divorce is granted; 90 days if there are children.

The fault grounds include:

- Adultery
- Desertion
- Cruel and inhumane treatment
- Felony conviction with prison sentence
- Habitual drunkenness or narcotics abuse

Marital property, the assets and debts acquired during your marriage, is divided "equitably" when you divorce. This means a fair division, and it may not be an equal division, depending on your case. Spouses keep their "separate property," which is property owned before marriage, or received by gift or inheritance.

Know that separate property may be reclassified as marital property if it was commingled or mixed with marital property. Examples of separate property include:

- Assets you had before you married
- Income produced by a separate property investment
- Inheritance

In deciding how to divide the property owned by divorcing couples, judges will consider a number of factors, including:

- Marriage length
- Age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities and needs of each spouse
- Contribution by one spouse to the education, training or increased earning power of the other spouse
- Relative ability of each spouse to acquire assets in the future
- Contribution of each spouse as a homemaker or wage earner to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation or dissipation of the marital or separate property
- Value of the separate property
- Estate of each spouse at the time of the marriage
- Economic circumstances of each spouse at the time the division of property is to become effective
- Tax consequences to each spouse
- Amount of Social Security benefits available to each spouse

In Tennessee, the court will make child custody decisions based upon the "best interest" of the child. The court may award sole custody to one spouse or joint custody to the spouses or even custody to a third party. There is a presumption in favor of joint custody if both parents agree. The court considers all relevant factors including the following:

- Love, affection and emotional ties existing between the parents and child
- Disposition of the parents to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, education and other necessary care and the degree to which a parent has been the primary caregiver
- Importance of continuity in the child's life and the length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment
- Stability of the family unit of the parents
- Mental and physical health of the parents
- Home, school, and community record of the child
- The reasonable preferences of children 12 and older
- Physical or emotional abuse to the child, to the other parent or to any other person
- Character and behavior of any other person who resides in or frequents the home of a parent
- Each parent's past and potential for future performance of parenting responsibilities

State law requires parents to attend a parenting education seminar and to create a written parenting plan. These requirements are aimed at securing and supporting parenting roles in divorce.
 
I'm just surprised that LE didn't ask him to leave the premises rather than Gail having to take the children to AL.

I'm still wondering about that. Although I realize now that Signal Mt. didn't have much tornado damage compared to the rest of the county, but everywhere else had an emergency situation on that day and power was out all over town, as well as all over Alabama.

The county where their Wetumpka lake house is located had a tornado on the 27th and power was out there. Was she aware of that?

http://www.thewetumpkaherald.com/news/article_dcbcaeea-80d8-11e0-bc32-001cc4c002e0.html

4dd2fd0934728.image.jpg


The annual rush to Lake Martin this Memorial Day will require some extra care this year as parts of the lake still hold the hidden danger of tornado debris.

A virtual minefield of debris from houses decimated by the April 27 tornado still floats in parts of the lake around Children’s Harbor, Windemere and areas north of Chimney Rock in Tallapoosa County.

I've said it before, but police on the radio were telling people to stay off the roads because so many power lines were down. To me she must have been desperate to get away from her husband to leave town that day, especially if she had power! Maybe the cops figured she would be more in control of the situation if they let her take the kids to a safe place. Otherwise, if they asked the husband to leave he might circle back and bother her later - just speculating.
 
This video is Extermely UNLIKELY...not just for reasons above, but because the accounts with the changed PIN #'s are retirement accounts with Fidelity. Since when do you walk-up to withdraw from these type of accounts??

qv. Ex-parte motion for restraining order and temporary custody. Point# 7

I'm hoping she was changing the beneficiary to her kids (in trust) or her sister.
 
I hope I'm not stepping on toes with this, but I was watching the video specifically because of Matt's claim that the Jeep had been spotted, and I noticed the previously-provided transcript had parts missing or incorrect. Most of the transcript was spot on, but the last reporter's question and stuff about the Jeep was missing/incorrect, so I did my own transcript. I'm a medical transcriptionist, so it's possible I'm just being fussy. Again, I hope this is okay, and of course feel free to correct me if I goofed.

---

JA (Janice Atkinson): Okay, my name's Janice Atkinson, and I'm with the Hamilton sheriff's office Public Information Office. I would like to thank everyone for being here today, and specifically I appreciate the media assisting with the release of Mrs. Palmgren's picture and description of her vehicle. I am handing out an information release concerning this and would appreciate, in the future, requests for information come straight to my office from all the media. At this time, Mrs. Nichols? Would you like to speak?

DIANE NICHOLS: My name is Diane Nichols, I am Gail Palmgren's sister, and she's been missing since April 30th, and we have not heard from her or seen her vehicle since. My family asks for your help in finding her. We're asking for the public's help. I'm only one person and this is quite a large area to cover. Please, if anybody has seen her or the vehicle, please, please call the police immediately. Call 911 if you can't remember the number. That number for the Signal Mountain police is 423-886-2123 or, yeah, call 911 immediately. Her vehicle is a 2010 Jeep Rubicon four-door with a black soft top. It has license plates that read “Eazy St,” that’s E-A-Z-Y street. It’s an Alabama tag. Please, if anyone has any information on this vehicle, please call police immediately. If you've seen my sister: She is 44 years old, she's 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighs approximately 135 pounds, has blonde hair and brown eyes. Please, she's got 2 little kids at home that miss their mommy. I'm begging you, please, help us find my sister. Gail, if you're out there somewhere and you can hear this, please call the police, call me, we love you. There are people that are concerned about you that love you and miss you. Please contact somebody, contact. We love you. Please come home. Thank you.

MATT PALMGREN: Thank you. As you can tell, it’s been a rough 2 weeks for the entire family. I'd like to start off by saying thank you to Chief Veal, Detective Tizzio, all my neighbors that have been out, Diane for coming down, all the family that's helped us look, uh, for Gail. As you can see, the Jeep has been spotted, we’ve been told, on a few occasions out there, so we’re asking for anybody who’s seen that to immediately call their local police and let us know and get more clues to where Gail could be. So, for myself, we've done everything in our power to finding Gail. We've hired a private investigator, we’ve continued to look, we're turning over everything we can. So, as Diane says, it’s like, yell if you hear us, please come forward, [redacted] and [redacted] love you, and please, please show yourself soon. I hope everyone keeps us in their thoughts and prayers. Thank you.

JA: Okay, this will conclude the press conference today.

REPORTER #1, CALLIE STARNES: Janice, do we ask questions of you or do we do that on an individual basis?

JA: There will not be any responses on the investigation at all today. As I said, when information can be released, it will be released immediately.

CS: Does that mean it will be released from your office? Are you guys now taking the lead on the investigation?

JA: We're not taking the lead. We're assisting. They have asked me to help with the media.

CS: So the investigators are not involved, just the Public Information Office at this point?

JA: Yeah, we have 2 investigators that are assisting Signal Mountain PD.

CS: Have you guys worked at all with Alabama authorities? I know there's mention of a lake house, is it possible that agencies there will get involved?

JA: Well, as I said, no investigative information will be released right now.

REPORTER #2: Janice, are you able to tell us what kind of efforts are being made to find her by the police department if you can't comment on the details yet?

JA: Every, every effort, every avenue that’s open to locate her is being done by both the Signal Mountain and Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

R #2: Can you tell us if there have been any searches for her, with officers going out and looking in areas where she might be, or...

JA: Not from the sheriff's office standpoint.

R #2: Do you know if...

JA: There is a plan for something later on this week.

REPORTER #3: Is there anything you can say about the sighting? It was mentioned that her Jeep had possibly been spotted. Can you elaborate on any of that?

JA: The only thing I can say is that every, every lead that has been passed back to law enforcement has been investigated or is in the process of being investigated.

CALLIE STARNES: Are there any suspects in the case at this point or anyone that’s been able to provide lead information that you guys have been able to gain anything from?

JA: At this point, it’s a missing persons investigation, so suspects, no.

R #2: Janice, is there any reason for the investigation to believe there may be foul play? I know, as you stressed in the press release here, that it’s a missing persons case, but is there anything that leads you to believe that something may have happened to her?

JA: That's always a possibility and will be looked into by law enforcement.

CS: Janice, how does this compare to other missing cases that we've dealt with in our area? What are the similarities? What are the differences? Does this one stand out to you?

JA: I don't think there’s a lot of differences. I mean, each case is unique within itself. From a law enforcement standpoint, we treat every missing report the same. We make every effort to locate the reported.

CS: A lot has been said about "on air," especially, “Gail, if you hear this, please call us.” Is there still the possibility that she might be somewhere listening to what's broadcasted and that might be an option, a way of getting her home?

JA: There is always hope that she is still there and listening and will respond, especially to her family members.

REPORTER #4: Is there a national alert for the car?

JA: She has been placed in the national missing persons registry.

R #4: But the car specifically, would that be spotted by...

JA: No. No.

JA: Okay, that's all I have. Thank you.
 
Gail's mom passed away in 1981; her dad passed away in 2007. May they rest in peace. They were wonderful people.


She would have been in her teens when her mother passed. :( That must have been pretty tragic for her.
 
Okay, notice that at the press conference, Matt says "As you can see, the Jeep has been spotted, we’ve been told, on a few occasions out there." It sounds like meant that this info was on the press handouts given to the media at the press conference.

However, Diane Nichols specifically stated the Jeep had not been seen. Spokeswoman Janice Atkinson would not confirm anything, and when asked by the male reporter at the end, she said the Jeep had NOT been put in a national registry for cars.

This is very curious. I already emailed Callie Starnes to see if anything about the Jeep being sighted was in the press info. But since two reporters specifically asked for more information about these sightings (and were given no answers), it sounds a LOT like Matt just made that up.

I gotta say, of all the hinky things Matt has done up to now, that one really burns my biscuit.
 
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