The drive home from work was beautiful. It was a sunny Friday afternoon in
March and I was full of excitement for a great weekend with the boys and
Gordie. Tomorrow was the first day
of practice for Nathan’s little league team on which Gordie was to be one of
the Assistant Coaches. It would be
his first time coaching baseball for one of our sons. The weather was suppose to be nice all weekend. I thought maybe we’ll take a walk this
weekend, maybe Nathan can even ride his bike while we push Wyatt in his toy
car. Maybe we’ll get pizza tonight
after Gordie finishes working on his remodeling project at my parents’
house. Maybe we’ll watch one of
the episodes of “The Firm” that we had recorded after the boys go to bed.
I did not realize that my life was just minutes from
changing forever.
I drove into the gates of the Estate that we were renting
from Gordie’s family. Gordie’s
truck was outside parked in its usual spot. I got out of my car and headed to the front steps. Ralphie, our 11 year old Jack Russell
Terrier, was on the porch by himself.
That’s odd, I thought.
I
walked into the house and it was silent.
I looked out the picture windows at the enormous backyard. It was empty.
Gordie and the boys must be playing somewhere on the
estate, I thought, I'll go change my clothes and join them.
I started walking upstairs. Ralphie ran ahead of me and started barking
at the top of the stairs. I
started walking down the hall and heard my two year old son crying in his
crib. I walked into his room and
he was sitting in his crib in his jammies and sleep sack. It was 4:25pm. He should not have been sleeping
at this time of day, and certainly not in his jammies. Wyatt generally went down for a nap in the
early afternoon and Gordie always woke him up at 2:30pm so that he could pick
Nathan up from school at 3pm.
I
again thought this is odd but wondered if Gordie had put Wyatt down for a
second nap since Wyatt had a fever that morning before I left for work. I changed Wyatt’s diaper and clothes
and went downstairs. I went out to
the backyard. It was strangely
silent. I started to walk around
the grounds calling out Nathan and Gordie’s names. Nothing. I went
back int the house and searched the house: looking in the basement and in rooms that we did not
use. Again, nothing. I took out my cell phone and dialed
Gordie’s cell phone. I heard it
ringing in the kitchen. I walked
in there and both of his cell phones were on the counter. I started to get angry: why on earth would he leave Wyatt
sleeping in the house and go off somewhere on the estate? I got into my car and started
driving around the estate. It’s
over 60 acres so I drove all around it.
There was no sign of Gordie or Nathan. I started to feel a little panicky. I drove back to the house and ran in
calling Gordie and Nathan’s names.
Nothing. On my way back out
to the car I noticed the baby monitor on the front step.
OK I thought, Gordie jogged around
the house while Wyatt was sleeping.
But where were he and Nathan now?
I drove around the Estate again.
There was no sign of Gordie and Nathan. I drove back to the house and went back in with
Wyatt. As I walked in the front
door I realized that Nathan’s backpack was not in the place he usually dumped it when he came home from
school. I grabbed my phone and
checked to see if there was a message from the school. No messages. I called my Dad.
“Hello?” my Dad answered.
“Dad, did you get a call from Nathan’s school today about him
not being picked up”? I asked.
“What?” my Dad
seemed confused.
“Nathan and Gordie are missing. Wyatt was in his bed when I came home. I don’t see Nathan’s backpack. Did the school call you today?” I asked.
“No Staci, they didn’t”, my Dad replied.
“Dad, I am worried, can you please find the number for the
school and call to see if Nathan was picked up?” I asked.
“Yes, of course, right away. I will call you back”, my Dad said.
My cell phone rang right after I hung up with my Dad.
“Mrs Ball, this is Nathan’s
school. We are just making sure
you know that he’s in After Care right now.”
It was at that exact moment that my world started to
shatter. I started crying and
screaming “Oh my God! My husband
is missing! I don’t know where he
is! Please keep my son there until
I can have my parents pick him up.”.
I remember the woman from the school telling me “I will pray
for you”.
I hung up and called my Dad. As soon as he answered I started screaming “Dad, Gordie is
missing. Nathan is at school. You need to pick him up and then come
over here right away”.
My Dad’s next words were “You need to call the police”.
I hung up and dialed 911.
“911, what is your emergency”.
“My name is Staci Ball. I live at the Ball Estate in
Alamo. My husband is missing. My baby was in his crib alone when I
got home from work. My 1st
grader was not picked up from school.
My husband is missing. “
I don’t remember much about the call other than that I was
afraid they would not help me because I always thought that someone had to be
missing 24 hours before law enforcement would help. But the dispatcher asked me some questions and said she was
sending the Sheriff.
After I hung up with 911, I called my Sister in Law and said
“Gordie’s missing. The police are
on their way. Please call everyone
and tell them to come here”.
About ten minutes later the Estate looked like a crime
scene. There were multiple police
vehicles including a K-9 unit.
There was also a police helicopter flying over the Estate. My parents and older son arrived as did
all my in-laws.
The Sheriff started asking me questions. What did I come home and find? What was Gordie’s normal routine? Were there surveillance cameras on the
property? Was his cell phone
missing? Where was his cell phone? Questions, questions, and more
questions.
I remember telling them that I thought he must have been
kidnapped. I told them that I was
certain he was jogging around the little road around the house after he put my
younger son down for a nap. He told
me he was going to that before I left for work in the morning. I also had found the baby monitor
on the steps which is where he put it when he jogged around the house while
Wyatt was sleeping. I told the
Sheriff that someone could have kidnapped him while he was doing that. They asked if Gordie had any
enemies. I mentioned that someone
who worked at the Estate had been recently fired. I gave them phone numbers for people who worked at the
Estate.
They started searching the house. I asked my In-Laws to show them all of the back rooms and
secret closets in this 100 year old house we lived in.
I remember that my husbands Step-Mother took my kids and my
nephew into the kitchen and closed the door once the police had finished
searching in there, trying to keep the kids out of the chaos. But my first grade son knew that Daddy
was missing.
I do not remember much else during the time they were
searching. I was numb and in
shock. The next thing I remember was a policeman coming inside from the back door and whispering to the guy in
charge who was asking me some more questions. He told me that he would be back. I stopped him and asked them if they had found something. He told me “I cannot say right
now”. My life started shattering a
little bit more.
My brother in law, my father in law, and my mother in law
just looked at each other. We just
stood there in the family room with the incredible view not knowing what to do. Finally, I could not take it anymore. I
ran out the back door, and saw several policemen on the walk that led to the
pool. They would not let me by
them. They said I had to go back
into the house. I begged for them
to tell me something. All they
said was “Go back into the house, the Sargent will be there as soon as he can”.
I went in and fell to the ground sobbing.
Sometime later the Sargent came in and said they found a
body in the pool. My mind
raced. For the first split second
I thought What? The pool? and in
the next split second realized he had said “a body” which to me meant not
alive. He then told me they had
not yet identified the body. I
remember saying “I think we all know who it is” and then just sank to my knees
and almost threw up.
Not too long later the Sargent told me it was Gordie they
found in the pool and that he was dead.
“I have to tell
Nathan” I told my family.
I don’t remember how Nathan ended up on the front porch but
I looked up and he was out there.
He looked scared and confused.
I remember that it was dark out there. He was by himself.
I walked out there. My
family followed. I knelt down and
said “Nathan, Daddy died.”. Nathan
has the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes and in that moment they grew even
bigger as he looked at me. “What?”
he asked “Daddy died? But I want
my Daddy” and he started to cry. I
hugged him and said “I know, me too”.
My little six year old boy just cried in my arms. It was the worse moment of my entire life.
On Friday March 2, 2012, my life, a life that I had taken
for granted and had never dreamed could be shattered so freakishly, did not
just forever change, it ended.
