{"id":51406,"date":"2020-09-21T14:27:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mystery-of-buried-vehicle-missing-driver-intensifies-north-of-pagosa-springs\/"},"modified":"2020-09-21T20:27:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:27:20","slug":"mystery-of-buried-vehicle-missing-driver-intensifies-north-of-pagosa-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mystery-of-buried-vehicle-missing-driver-intensifies-north-of-pagosa-springs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery of buried vehicle, missing driver intensifies north of Pagosa Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A passerby spotted part of a car sticking out of a massive debris pile and reported it to law enforcement Aug. 13. The owner of the vehicle remains missing, and police are unsure why or how the car ended up where it did.<\/span>Courtesy of Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Authorities have seemingly reached a dead end into an investigation of an abandoned car that was found buried under a massive pile of debris in a remote, mountainous area outside Pagosa Springs, with its owner missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s nowhere to be found,\u201d said Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Aug. 13, a passerby spotted a part of a silver 2014 Toyota Camry with New Mexico plates sticking out through a massive debris pile, located up West Fork Road (Forest Service Road 648), about 15 miles north of Pagosa Springs.<\/p>\n

The area in question is located in Mineral County, right before U.S. Highway 160 starts to climb Wolf Creek Pass.<\/p>\n

After the car was reported to law enforcement, investigators determined it belonged to Gabriel Max Baldonado<\/a> of Albuquerque, who is in his early 40s.<\/p>\n

But in the days since, authorities have been unable to locate Baldonado or piece together what may have happened.<\/p>\n

\"Authorities
Authorities believe a car that was buried and abandoned had been there for about a week before being discovered Aug. 13.<\/span>Courtesy of Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A host at a nearby campground said the car couldn\u2019t have been there more than 10 days, but neighbors had reported nothing unusual or out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n

Nothing was found inside the car to help determine what might have happened, other than a mask, which leads authorities to believe the car was left there at least after the COVID-19 pandemic. The vehicle was in good, working order.<\/p>\n

The debris used to bury the car had been there for years, Hosselkus said, as a U.S. Forest Service slash pile. Because of the way the wood and logs were stacked, he believes the intent was to set the pile on fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seemed to be like they were building a great big bonfire,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More recently, search crews with a human remains detection dog combed the area, which turned up nothing.<\/p>\n

\"Authorities
Authorities have taken possession of a car found buried and abandoned under logs in case they need to search it again.<\/span>Courtesy of Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThey did a pretty good search,\u201d Hosselkus said. \u201cThey are pretty good dogs, they\u2019ll find something if it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to the mystery, Hosselkus said a pentagram, a five-point symbol often associated with mystical or occult meanings, was found 300 feet from the car. The pentagram was made out of sticks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say how long it had been there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it was weird when we found that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office worked with investigators in New Mexico to help track down credit card or bank activity, which again, turned up not a trace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no (recent) activity on anything,\u201d Hosselkus said.<\/p>\n

Baldonado was not known to have a cellphone, Hosselkus said.<\/p>\n

Investigators located Baldonado\u2019s family, but to make matters more complicated, Baldonado had become estranged from his family, and hadn\u2019t spoken with them in years.<\/p>\n

\"Gabriel
Gabriel Baldonado became estranged from his family about three years ago after his wife died suddenly, said his sister, Angela Atwood.<\/span>Courtesy of Angela Atwood<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grabriel
Grabriel Baldonado and his family lived in New Mexico when his wife, Carol, died suddenly.<\/span>Courtesy of Angela Atwood<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Angela Atwood, Baldonado\u2019s sister, said in an interview Monday with The Durango Herald<\/em> that Baldonado\u2019s wife of about 15 years suddenly died in 2017, and that was the turning point for her brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat made Gabriel spiral,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Baldonado and his family moved to New Mexico a few years ago after his wife, Carol, finished nursing school. After she died, Baldonado and his three children went to stay with Atwood in the Seattle area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just wasn\u2019t in a good place mentally \u2026 to raise his kids, so they moved in with me,\u201d she said. \u201cHe went back down to New Mexico to sort himself out, and then we never heard from him after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atwood said her brother is quiet and introverted, and never got caught up with the wrong crowd. She, too, is at a loss as to why he went missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t understand the car,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s not a super strong person. I don\u2019t know how he buried it like that. That\u2019s not Gabriel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mineral
Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus said he believes heavy equipment was used to bury a car north of Pagosa Springs.<\/span>Courtesy of Mineral County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hosselkus said it appears he had no connection to the Pagosa Springs area. There are no planned future searches of the area. Foul play is not suspected. Authorities in New Mexico will keep an eye on credit card and bank activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what else to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The location in question has been a problem area for missing people, Hosselkus said.<\/p>\n

In September 2017, Matthew Johnston of Rico called 911 to say he was lost. His car was found parked at an overlook on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass<\/a>, and a robust search effort turned up nothing. He remains missing to this day.<\/p>\n

And a year or so before, Hosselkus said a truck that went off Wolf Creek Pass near the same overlook resulted in the death of the driver, but authorities have reason to believe there was a passenger, who was never located.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if we find one, we\u2019ll find them all,\u201d Hosselkus said.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mineral County sheriff says searches have led nowhere<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,993,29,310,373],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-investigation","tag-newsletter","tag-pagosa-springs","tag-wolf-creek-pass"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51406"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}