NY NY - Colin Gillis, 18, Tupper Lake, 11 March 2012

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I just looked up my weather (20 miles N. of Syracuse) and March 2012 was the warmest on record. Average temp of 46.5, 13.2 degrees above normal. Still, I can't see the off road Tupper Lake snow as already being melted. One of the reasons we had a camp was so we could snowmobile well into April some years.
 
Mackenzie10 said:
Sunsetgirl-- Wow! I don't remember it being that warm in March! But Tupper Lake usually has a lot of snow to melt, are there any pictures of the area taken during the search?
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It was such an unusual March ... we began maple sugaring on March 10th (sap had just begun to run for us earlier in the week) and did our final boil on Monday March 19th as temps rose to near 80°F for several days prematurely ending our sugaring season. However, we had a lot of snow the end of February/beginning of March so I know the snow in the woods was still deep (for us anyway as we snowshoe from tree to tree collecting buckets!!) but bare ground was starting to appear especially on southern facing areas.

Watching news videos you can see the searchers 'post-holing' in thigh deep snow in some spots & walking on bare ground in others - there was also footage showing search boats on open water ... I can only imagine that as the search continued for days with such mild weather the frozen rivers/lakes started opening up and snow was rapidly melting ... it was such a vast area they were searching!

From what I can tell based on news reports, they did consider it a possibility that Colin MAY have attempted to cross the frozen lake (so it was obviously still frozen as of the beginning of the searching) ... it sounded like a lot of searching focused on looking for any signs along the shore and nothing was found!

Here's a question that probably can't be answered ... was any evidence found anywhere else besides the couple of personal items found along Route 3?
 
ontheclock said:
Prayers and good juju to Colin's family and friends. I hope the sun rises for them soon.
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ontheclock, "I hope the sun rises for them soon." - that is a truly beautiful sentiment.
 
SunsetGirl said:
Hi chris24. Interesting observations! Thanks for sharing. We want to get as many Websleuthers as we can to add input here - everyone sees things just a bit differently. I'll add a few of my thoughts into your post (my comments are in bold) ...
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By the hitchhiker theory, I meant maybe someone picked him up and was murdered. Sorry, should've clarified. But I tend to lean to the "accidentally hit" theory.
 
Mackenzie10 said:
Hi, I'm a long time lurker and I've posted a few times. This case is of interest to me because I live in upstate NY and had a camp near Tupper Lake.

Often times in my younger days if I were waiting for a ride and I was cold, I would walk in the direction the ride was coming from (obviously to stay warm) and not necessarily the direction toward my home, hoping to meet up with the ride quicker. Has any friend come forward and said they were going to pick him up? I wonder like others if his waiving of his arms were his way of trying to stop who he thought was his ride, or to stop anyone as he was getting colder. I think that may explain his walking way out in the road and not on the side-- with no street lighting he may have been hard to see-- plus being maybe a bit intoxicated and hypothermia setting in. And, I wonder, if his ride hit him near the spot that his personal items were found? And if they had been drinking they may not have wanted to have been found and moved his body... It seems to be a thing with many teenagers I know that an "I'll pick you up at 1:30" ends up being a half hour to an hour later. I wonder if they ever checked if someone he knew, that lived in the direction he was walking, had a similar car to the one he tried to flag down?

I know how easy it is to get lost in the Adirondacks, but with the search commencing so soon it seems odd he couldn't be tracked in the snow. Could they track his footprints at all on the side of the road? I may be wrong but don't most of the lakes/ponds in the area have shallow entry? I would think he'd stop if he stepped into the water, and if he broke through ice farther out in deeper water, wouldn't it be obvious the next morning?
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Welcome Mackenzie10! We are very glad to have you join us and hope you'll become an active member of Team Colin because it seems like you have a lot of good stuff to share and a lot of great questions! Thank you so much!
 
So glad to see everyone here in support of finding Colin! I was going to answer each post individually, which I started doing but there's a lot of the - yippee! So, I will let you know the questions I have asked the Gillis family and am awaiting a reply:

1. Any pings from Colin's phone?

2. Are Colin and his friends practical jokers? Could a joke have gone wrong?

3. Is there any evidence on Colin's phone that he called someone to pick him up and were they coming from the way he was walking? Maybe he started walking toward the way he thought they would be coming from and was waving his arms to flag them down but it was not his ride?

4. Are there any people that you or your family might be aware of that are overly jealous of Colin or your family?

5. Did Colin skip a grade? He started college early, no?

6. No evidence of Colin's footprints anywhere? Although the roads were melted, it wouldn't have been warm enough to melt the snow off the sides of the sides of the roads right?

Patti did share that the overly warm weather that evening/morning did make a difference in their search as far as snow melt. There was also a full moon on March 8th and the full moon would have still been at about 85% on the night/morning he disappeared which I would hope would make him more visible on he road?

I will be back in touch ASAP with some more info and once again, welcome Mackenzie10 and thank you to you and all the other members of Team Colin!!!
 
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone for the 52,913 views of Colin's thread! That is phenomenal and I hope that more "viewers" will join Team Colin and help bring him home!
 
Sad news for the Gillis family, I was really hoping Colin would come home before his Grandfather passed away :( Again, I ask for your continued prayers and kind thoughts for the family, they have been through so much tragedy, I do truly hope, as ontheclock so eloquently said it, the sun rises for them soon.

http://www.adirondackdailyenterpris...tail/id/542737/Robert-J--Gillis.html?nav=5009

I also wanted to include a link which shows the snow melt, it's actually a video of an interview with Colin's uncle, the police, and family friends during the initial search but if you look in the background you can't see any snow, although I know it's not that way in the woods but I thought it may help people get an idea of the area the day after Colin went missing:

http://newzjunky.com/news2014/0227colin_gillis.htm

Again, thank you all, you're the best.
 
I got all excited at post 446, thanks for asking the questions.

Then I read your post about Colin's g'pa.

RIP.
 
I'm here, I'm here! And I have answers!:


1. Any pings from Colin's phone? There were no pings from Colin's phone, there is little to no service in the area he was last seen. I'm assuming that is why the newspaper editor didn't call the police but drove there instead.

2. Are Colin and his friends practical jokers? Could a joke have gone wrong? All of Colin's good friends had already left the party and Colin remained at the party with people he didn't know and people he knew but didn't generally hang out with. I have asked Patty if any of his good friends have shared with her as to why Colin stayed, he had to have shared that information with at least one of his good friends!
Patty (and I) hope his friends did not go back looking for him and something happened and they panicked. I would hope they would make a better decision for their friend but we have all read about things like this happening on this forum. We don't believe that is what happened but one never knows. I couldn't live with myself.

3. Is there any evidence on Colin's phone that he called someone to pick him up and were they coming from the way he was walking? Maybe he started walking toward the way he thought they would be coming from and was waving his arms to flag them down but it was not his ride? There is no evidence of Colin calling someone to pick him up. He could've been waving to flag someone down but those who observed him didn't think he was in any distress and that he appeared intoxicated. I don't know how you can tell that from driving by unless Colin was stumbling/weaving but all the editor said was that he was waiving his arms. IMHO, that wouldn't appear to me that someone was intoxicated, I would look at it as someone trying to flag me down for help!

4. Are there any people that you or your family might be aware of that are overly jealous of Colin or your family? No people that they are aware of.

5. Did Colin skip a grade? He started college early, no? Colin did skip a grade and has a very high IQ.

6. No evidence of Colin's footprints anywhere? Although the roads were melted, it wouldn't have been warm enough to melt the snow off the sides of the sides of the roads right? There was evidence (footprints) that Colin stepped over the guardrail and "was turning and looking the other way." I have asked for clarification on this (footprints all in the same general area or footprints walking toward home? Evidence searched for if he stepped over to relieve himself? Side note: Can they find that type of evidence? Anyone know?

ontheclock - I shared your "Hope the sun rises for them soon." sentiment and it was very much appreciated by the Gillis family.

Let's keep digging, we're missing something!
 
I can attest to the fact that there is very sketchy cell service in that area. I hate driving through there because I can never get any calls in or out.

Thank you for all of those answers.
 
Re: the cell service in the area.

With the phone trying so hard to connect to service, the phone battery dies very quickly. Happened to me when I was in the area...though my cell battery was already bad at the time so that didn't help.

I am going to re-read this thread and see if I can come up with anything new to ponder. I often think about Colin and am sad so much time has passed with no answers.
 
Just re-read the thread and have some questions...

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY NY - Colin Gillis, 18, Tupper Lake, 2am on 11 March 2012

In above post it says when Colin declined the ride a second time from AT he was near the headquarters of Bruce Richards Logging, heading west. Where is that exactly? I'd like to see that on the map. Google tells me its in town, but that can't be right.

Another question...when the cop went to look for Colin that evening, was he driving with his police lights on/sirens on? Just thinking if he was, Colin may have wanted to avoid him (maybe...due to underage drinking) and gone into the woods. Just a thought.

A timeline:

I think a solid timeline in this case/thread would be useful.

Can someone possibly please put these events in order of time they happened for me? I am jumbled on this timeline.

  • Colin last heard from...was this via his cell phone or a landline at the party...I think this was at 1:30 but then what?
  • AT and his cousin drive by and speak with Colin on way out of town...
  • AT drove by again on his way back home and spoke with Colin...
  • RR the newspaper editor drove by him and then drove to the police station
  • The police went out looking for Colin and were unable to locate him


Thanks in advance!
 
andalso said:
Re: the cell service in the area.

With the phone trying so hard to connect to service, the phone battery dies very quickly. Happened to me when I was in the area...though my cell battery was already bad at the time so that didn't help.

I am going to re-read this thread and see if I can come up with anything new to ponder. I often think about Colin and am sad so much time has passed with no answers.
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Absolutely andalso, that's exactly what happens with phone batteries when they're searching for service, like you, I've had it happen to me as well.

I'm ever hopeful that Colin will come home soon, something or someone has to crack soon, the sooner the better.

Please share if you see something in the thread that piques your curiosity, and let's all work on it!

Thank you everyone!!!
 
andalso said:
Just re-read the thread and have some questions...

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - NY NY - Colin Gillis, 18, Tupper Lake, 2am on 11 March 2012

In above post it says when Colin declined the ride a second time from AT he was near the headquarters of Bruce Richards Logging, heading west. Where is that exactly? I'd like to see that on the map. Google tells me its in town, but that can't be right.

Another question...when the cop went to look for Colin that evening, was he driving with his police lights on/sirens on? Just thinking if he was, Colin may have wanted to avoid him (maybe...due to underage drinking) and gone into the woods. Just a thought.

A timeline:

I think a solid timeline in this case/thread would be useful.

Can someone possibly please put these events in order of time they happened for me? I am jumbled on this timeline.

  • Colin last heard from...was this via his cell phone or a landline at the party...I think this was at 1:30 but then what?
  • AT and his cousin drive by and speak with Colin on way out of town...
  • AT drove by again on his way back home and spoke with Colin...
  • RR the newspaper editor drove by him and then drove to the police station
  • The police went out looking for Colin and were unable to locate him


Thanks in advance!
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Oops I should've read further before I answered your first post!

As far as mapping, ForesterJake was our map person along with SunsetGirl - are y'all still out there? Can you update the map with Bruce Richards Logging so we can see exactly where that is and also add the other stop Colin made before he went to the party? If FJ and SG aren't available does anyone else know how to do maps to post? If not, I will contact Otto, he does fabulous map work!

andalso, I agree that we need a solid timeline, and I will get definitive answers for you on the above (I want to make sure I have it straight, I think I do but!) and will try to construct a timeline to share, it would be most helpful! If anyone else is quicker or better at this, please feel free to go for it!!!

Keep digging for info! Thank you all!
 
Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here. The Gillis family has been busy with Prom, college tours, graduation, etc. so we're in a holding pattern right now.

andalso - I have given the Gillis family info on Texas Equusearch but not CUE, I will pass that along. Thank you!

Have not forgotten about the timeline either!!! That's super important! I just want to make sure I have it straight before I post it - just a busy time of year for the Gillis family.

tarabull, thank you for the map work! I agree, WHERE IS COLIN?! He needs to come home to his family, it's been too long :(
 
Oooh I see 2 guests! Please join Team Colin!!! We could use your input! TIA!
 
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