{"id":67345,"date":"2016-12-26T22:23:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-27T05:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/police-run-short-on-leads-in-death-of-pagosa-springs-man\/"},"modified":"2016-12-27T05:23:46","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T05:23:46","slug":"police-run-short-on-leads-in-death-of-pagosa-springs-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/police-run-short-on-leads-in-death-of-pagosa-springs-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Police run short on leads in death of Pagosa Springs man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Chacon\"
Chacon<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Police are running short on leads to uncover the circumstances surrounding the death of a 29-year-old man authorities suspect was shot in the head and left in a remote forested area outside Pagosa Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still pursuing what leads we have and trying to make contact with any and all people who were friends or had dealings with him,\u201d said Archuleta County Undersheriff Tonya Hamilton. \u201cBut that list is getting shorter and shorter.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Aug. 23, the remains of Andrew Donald Chacon \u2013 who at the time was living in Pagosa Springs \u2013 were found along Mill Creek Road, about six to eight miles from Colorado Highway 84, east of town.<\/p>\n

In September, an autopsy determined the most likely cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, though it remains unclear if it was self-inflicted or a result of foul play.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed the remains were in the forest for at least a year before they were discovered last summer. Police said his family suspected he was missing, but they had not officially reported him as a missing person.<\/p>\n

Now, almost five months into the investigation, Hamilton said there have been no substantial leads to point authorities to what led to Chacon\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an active investigation, and there\u2019s a couple interviews we have to do still,\u201d she said. \u201cBut finding these folks is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton said Chacon had friends in Pagosa Springs, but they provided little helpful information and could not help authorities pinpoint when Chacon was last seen in Pagosa Springs.<\/p>\n

The Durango Herald spoke with a former co-worker of Chacon\u2019s at the Alley House Grille in September, but the employee said Chacon left the restaurant about three years ago, and she did not know him outside of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an employee here, we all loved him,\u201d Jaymie Gallegos said at the time. \u201cHe had a great attitude. We\u2019re all pretty sad about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton previously told The Herald that Chacon\u2019s family said it wasn\u2019t unusual for the young man to not check in for long periods, so the family wasn\u2019t inclined to report him missing.<\/p>\n

According to authorities, \u201cthere was more than one occasion\u201d when Chacon was jailed in Archuleta County, but the details were not available. Hamilton has said investigators don\u2019t believe there is a link between Chacon\u2019s criminal past and the circumstances surrounding his death.<\/p>\n

Archuleta County has four cold cases, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.<\/p>\n

The only ruled homicide dates to a double slaying in 1982, when the body of 23-year old Stewart Eric Simmons, a Pagosa Springs resident, was found on the northwest bank of the San Juan River at the Colorado-New Mexico border.<\/p>\n

A month later, the body of Margaret Ann Walden was also found on a northwest bank of the San Juan River, with an autopsy indicating she had been strangled. Her age remains unknown.<\/p>\n

The other two cases are classified as missing persons: George Lee Rohner, 37, who was reported to have moved to California from Pagosa Springs in 1986 but never arrived. Foul play is suspected.<\/p>\n

And David Kramer, 20, who on May 28, 2005, was on a camping trip with friends in the Blanco Basin area. When his friends awoke the next morning, Kramer was missing. Authorities suspect he fell off a large embankment into the Rio Blanco River.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Hamilton said authorities are constantly in contact with Chacon\u2019s family, who live mostly in California. She said the department wants to make sure they\u2019re doing OK and answer any questions about the investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re holding up about as well as you\u2019d expect, given the circumstances,\u201d Hamilton said Friday.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the investigation is asked to call Detective Sgt. Warren Brown at 264-8499 or visit Archuleta County Sheriff\u2019s Office Crimestoppers website at archuletacounty.crimestoppersweb.com.<\/p>\n

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

Remains of Andrew Donald Chacon, 29, discovered in August<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,131],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-67345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-homicide"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67345","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=67345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67345"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=67345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}