Name: Paul Braxton Fugate
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: January 13, 1980
Location Last Seen: Willcox, Cochise County, Arizona
Date of Birth: September 2, 1938
Age: 42 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 160 - 170 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, Graying, Long
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Paul
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Widows peak, Beard, Moustache, Wears hair in ponytail
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available
Clothing: National Park Services jacket (Bright green with rescue red lining), jocky shorts, white socks, green work boots
Jewelry: none
Additional Personal Items: Green work boots, thick 'Granney' glasses
On January 13, 1980, Park Ranger Paul Fugate, the only member of the permanent staff on duty that day, walked out of his office to check out a nature trail. He left instructions with the only other person, a seasonal employee, that if he was not back before 16:30 to begin to shut down without him.
Fugate appeared to walk down toward the Chiricahua National Monument entrance and was never seen again. No trace of the ranger was ever found despite extensive searches by the National Park Service, The Cochise County Sheriff’s Department, The Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, The Southern Arizona Search and Rescue Association, Customs, The Border Patrol and Fugate’s many friends.
All that was missing from Fugate’s home were the clothes he was wearing and his NPS keys. foul play is possible.
A park employee is said to have seen him slumped between two men in a pickup headed North around 4pm. Subsequent investigation has declared this a homicide.
Agency Name: Cochise County Sheriff's Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: (520) 803-3280
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 800082
NamUs Case Number: 1677
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs
The Douglas Dispatch
Added: 2/6/10; Last Updated: 11-13-2021 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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