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Missing man is a mystery a year later
By Gentry Braswell/Wick Communications
SIERRA VISTA - A year ago today, John "Buck" Kueper left Buddy's Bar in Whetstone.
He hasn't been seen by his friends or family since.
It's been a mystery that has friends, family and community members are still trying to figure out.
His two daughters are left with dwindling hope of finding him.
"The Cochise County Sheriff's Office is still investigating this case and they are looking for two people, in state, to complete interviews with, and for one person who is out of state, to conduct interviews," Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said Friday.
Capas said the detective in charge of the case, Matt Szymeczek, would only say interviews are sought with those three people because of "investigative leads."
Kueper's case began in the late afternoon on Jan. 26, 2007, when he left his favorite bar at 119 E. Highway 82, to go to his truck out front.
It would have been a 100-yard drive to his home in the trailer park behind Buddy's.
On the Wednesday following his disappearance, Kueper's pickup was discovered in a wash near the ghost town of Fairbank, which is between Tombstone and Whetstone.
Authorities searched the area of the roadhouse where Kueper was last seen, his residence, the area where his truck was found, and generally the area between Whetstone and Tombstone in the weeks and months that followed his disappearance, to no avail.
In February, a fund was established as a reward for anyone who could perhaps provide information about Kueper's whereabouts and disappearance. A few fundraiser barbecue parties were held at Buddy's. The last was in August and was a sort of a birthday party for Kueper. If still alive, he would be 93.
In November, a Sierra Vista woman said she saw a man fitting Kueper's description on the day he went missing. She said he was being escorted into an old, full-sized pickup by two men she didn't recognize in front of Buddy's that Friday afternoon.
According to Kueper's friends, family and bar staff at Buddy's, Kueper didn't drink to excess, so he never required assistance getting home or to his vehicle.
The woman who believed she saw Kueper being escorted to his vehicle said the man fitting Kueper's description appeared not to be fully awake, as if he were intoxicated or ill, and was in the company of a heavy-set, brown-haired man with facial hair and a cowboy hat. The other one was a skinnier man with dark hair, the woman said.
The alleged witness said they all got into the vehicle that fit the description of Kueper's pickup.
Kueper took a daily constitutional to Buddy's, which is about 100 yards from his trailer. He drove the 100 yards to and from his trailer because of his bad knees, according to his granddaughter, Michelle Morris, who now lives in Tucson.
Kueper is described by his friends, family and neighbors to be a man without any real enemies, and by all accounts it mystifies those who loved him that anyone would bring intentional harm to the man.
Kueper's bar pals are not throwing another fund-raising party on the anniversary of his disappearance today.
Rather, the regular crowd, who still miss their friend will probably just get together today at the bar for a drink and keep him in their thoughts, said Jane Hjeldness, who owns Buddy's Bar and who manages the trailer park Kueper lived in.
"We decided that, well, let's just get together and have a drink for Buck - wherever he is," Hjeldness said.
She said it seemed, frankly, macabre, to have a "party" today.
"We thought it would be kind of weird to celebrate. We were hoping he'd be back by now or hoping they would have found something by now," Hjeldness said. "We haven't heard anything, and nothing has changed from last year. The longer it goes, it ..."
She trailed off, momentarily.
"I don't know," Hjeldness said. "We can all sit back and point fingers and say, 'I saw this,' but when it comes down to it you just can't go off half-cocked about somebody you saw do something that was totally meaningless."
Hjeldness said there have not been any new rumors for a long time now.
"There's nothing. Absolutely nothing," she said.
Perhaps, because of the seasonally transient nature of many Southeastern Arizona residents, a snowbird who may have witnessed something important a year ago might be able to help solve the case, she said.
Kueper's daughter, Rena, who lives in Springfield, Ill., said she last talked to Detective Szymeczek last month. She said the conversation was short and to the point.
"He just said that he had a couple of suspects in mind, and if anything came about he would let us know," she said. "There's a lot of people there that have called and wanted to know if I've heard anything, but I have to tell them no."
She said the only family member who remains in Southeast Arizona is her daughter, who lives in Tucson, and the rest of her brother's community down here are friends and acquaintances.
"The last time my sister and I was there was in August just before he went missing in (the following) January. That was in 2005. We just visited with dad, bought him things for the trailer, curtains, rugs, towels, stuff like that for the trailer. He was in good health. In fact, his eyes were so bright, we made the comment, coming back home, how good he looked," Kueper said.
Rena Kueper said Kueper's other daughter, Lou Baker, also lives in Springfield, and the sisters talk every day.
"I have told the police every place that I could think of because I lived out there with my brother and dad was close by - every place I could think of that he could be," Rena Kueper said. "Something terrible has happened to him. He did not wander off. Somebody abducted him from the bar, and took him, and did whatever they wanted to him, and it was for the money that was in his pocket, because they never tried to get anything else."
The sisters' last remaining brother died in 2005 at age 67 of respiratory failure. At that time, Rena Kueper was still living in Cochise County.
Rena Kueper said her father took her brother's death very hard.
"He was sad. He'd lost both boys. There was four of us, and he's lost both boys now, and I'm sure it was on his mind everyday because they went to the bar (Buddy's) everyday together," the daughter said.
Hope has dwindled for her and her sister that they feel there would be nothing they could do if they came to Cochise County.
"We are planning on a trip if and when they find dad," she said.
Sierra Vista Herald reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
He hasn't been seen by his friends or family since.
It's been a mystery that has friends, family and community members are still trying to figure out.
His two daughters are left with dwindling hope of finding him.
"The Cochise County Sheriff's Office is still investigating this case and they are looking for two people, in state, to complete interviews with, and for one person who is out of state, to conduct interviews," Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said Friday.
Capas said the detective in charge of the case, Matt Szymeczek, would only say interviews are sought with those three people because of "investigative leads."
Kueper's case began in the late afternoon on Jan. 26, 2007, when he left his favorite bar at 119 E. Highway 82, to go to his truck out front.
It would have been a 100-yard drive to his home in the trailer park behind Buddy's.
On the Wednesday following his disappearance, Kueper's pickup was discovered in a wash near the ghost town of Fairbank, which is between Tombstone and Whetstone.
Authorities searched the area of the roadhouse where Kueper was last seen, his residence, the area where his truck was found, and generally the area between Whetstone and Tombstone in the weeks and months that followed his disappearance, to no avail.
In February, a fund was established as a reward for anyone who could perhaps provide information about Kueper's whereabouts and disappearance. A few fundraiser barbecue parties were held at Buddy's. The last was in August and was a sort of a birthday party for Kueper. If still alive, he would be 93.
In November, a Sierra Vista woman said she saw a man fitting Kueper's description on the day he went missing. She said he was being escorted into an old, full-sized pickup by two men she didn't recognize in front of Buddy's that Friday afternoon.
According to Kueper's friends, family and bar staff at Buddy's, Kueper didn't drink to excess, so he never required assistance getting home or to his vehicle.
The woman who believed she saw Kueper being escorted to his vehicle said the man fitting Kueper's description appeared not to be fully awake, as if he were intoxicated or ill, and was in the company of a heavy-set, brown-haired man with facial hair and a cowboy hat. The other one was a skinnier man with dark hair, the woman said.
The alleged witness said they all got into the vehicle that fit the description of Kueper's pickup.
Kueper took a daily constitutional to Buddy's, which is about 100 yards from his trailer. He drove the 100 yards to and from his trailer because of his bad knees, according to his granddaughter, Michelle Morris, who now lives in Tucson.
Kueper is described by his friends, family and neighbors to be a man without any real enemies, and by all accounts it mystifies those who loved him that anyone would bring intentional harm to the man.
Kueper's bar pals are not throwing another fund-raising party on the anniversary of his disappearance today.
Rather, the regular crowd, who still miss their friend will probably just get together today at the bar for a drink and keep him in their thoughts, said Jane Hjeldness, who owns Buddy's Bar and who manages the trailer park Kueper lived in.
"We decided that, well, let's just get together and have a drink for Buck - wherever he is," Hjeldness said.
She said it seemed, frankly, macabre, to have a "party" today.
"We thought it would be kind of weird to celebrate. We were hoping he'd be back by now or hoping they would have found something by now," Hjeldness said. "We haven't heard anything, and nothing has changed from last year. The longer it goes, it ..."
She trailed off, momentarily.
"I don't know," Hjeldness said. "We can all sit back and point fingers and say, 'I saw this,' but when it comes down to it you just can't go off half-cocked about somebody you saw do something that was totally meaningless."
Hjeldness said there have not been any new rumors for a long time now.
"There's nothing. Absolutely nothing," she said.
Perhaps, because of the seasonally transient nature of many Southeastern Arizona residents, a snowbird who may have witnessed something important a year ago might be able to help solve the case, she said.
Kueper's daughter, Rena, who lives in Springfield, Ill., said she last talked to Detective Szymeczek last month. She said the conversation was short and to the point.
"He just said that he had a couple of suspects in mind, and if anything came about he would let us know," she said. "There's a lot of people there that have called and wanted to know if I've heard anything, but I have to tell them no."
She said the only family member who remains in Southeast Arizona is her daughter, who lives in Tucson, and the rest of her brother's community down here are friends and acquaintances.
"The last time my sister and I was there was in August just before he went missing in (the following) January. That was in 2005. We just visited with dad, bought him things for the trailer, curtains, rugs, towels, stuff like that for the trailer. He was in good health. In fact, his eyes were so bright, we made the comment, coming back home, how good he looked," Kueper said.
Rena Kueper said Kueper's other daughter, Lou Baker, also lives in Springfield, and the sisters talk every day.
"I have told the police every place that I could think of because I lived out there with my brother and dad was close by - every place I could think of that he could be," Rena Kueper said. "Something terrible has happened to him. He did not wander off. Somebody abducted him from the bar, and took him, and did whatever they wanted to him, and it was for the money that was in his pocket, because they never tried to get anything else."
The sisters' last remaining brother died in 2005 at age 67 of respiratory failure. At that time, Rena Kueper was still living in Cochise County.
Rena Kueper said her father took her brother's death very hard.
"He was sad. He'd lost both boys. There was four of us, and he's lost both boys now, and I'm sure it was on his mind everyday because they went to the bar (Buddy's) everyday together," the daughter said.
Hope has dwindled for her and her sister that they feel there would be nothing they could do if they came to Cochise County.
"We are planning on a trip if and when they find dad," she said.
Sierra Vista Herald reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
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