In “Valley of the Damned: The Absent Father,” an Investigation Discovery documentary, Jim Durgan’s unhappy 2008 homicide in Salida, Colorado, is chronicled. Earlier than apprehending his killers, the authorities didn’t must seek for very lengthy. The documentary presents a complete rationalization of how the occasions transpired by painstakingly separating the case’s many layers. Now we have the knowledge you want in case you’re curious and need to discover out extra, together with the perpetrator’s current whereabouts. So, let’s simply get began, lets?
Jim Durgan
How Did Jim Durgan Die?
On December 19, 1970, James Glenn “Jim” Durgan was born in Salida, Colorado. He was a happy-go-lucky man who loved outside pursuits like fishing and looking. In 1990, he crossed paths with Kristin T. Durgan in Phoenix, Arizona, due to a typical buddy. On July 3, 1992, in Las Vegas, Kristin and Jim have been united in marriage. In 1998, they returned to Salida, with Jim stating that they needed to “set up some roots.” He had a profitable occupation in telecommunications and was making roughly $90,000 yearly, the present claimed.
Jim tried to return house on the weekends to spend time along with his spouse and kids, Andrew and Elisabeth, however the job compelled him to work away from house all through the week. He had a stepson named Nicholas Ayers as effectively. The Fremont County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a name from Kristin on July 11, 2008, stating that her husband had gone lacking.
Jim’s car was found deserted by the authorities as they started their seek for him within the Lone Pine Leisure Space on the border of Fremont County. Police found a physique within the Arkansas River on July 19, 2008. The physique was now bloated, deformed, and unrecognizably human. Dental data have been utilized by the medical expert to find out that Jim’s physique belonged to him. A blunt head harm and two gunshot wounds to the cranium have been additionally famous in his postmortem report.
Who Killed Jim Durgan?
As quickly as Kristin Durgan offered a really unsettling account of her marriage to Jim, the detectives started to dig into her. Based on this system, Kristin was given a bipolar dysfunction prognosis two years after being married, and he or she additionally had a playing dependancy. To maintain her away from casinos, the couple moved again to Salida for a variety of causes. Nonetheless, this system stated that Kristin had found a on line casino in Cripple Creek and used to frequent it till her debt acquired out of hand and her husband found her there.
The present claims that Jim repeatedly admitted Kristin to rehab however that her playing dependancy remained untreated. As an alternative, because of the mounting debt, Jim was compelled to take out a second mortgage on their home as a way to maintain their funds from collapsing. On this system, it was additionally claimed that Jim found his spouse having an affair when he acquired house in March 2008. For him, it was the breaking level. After that, Jim left the home and relocated to Wyoming, the place he was relationship a girl and meant to get married to her.
The divorce between Jim and Kristen was going to be amicable. Jim continued to go to the youngsters on the weekends, however he slept in a motel in Caon Metropolis. Andrew Tanner, Kristin’s boyfriend, had moved into his house, he found. Kristin was compelled to work at a close-by pizza store when Jim stopped offering her extra cash. She met Andrew, a supply particular person for the restaurant, there. When the police checked into Andrew, they found that he had beforehand been convicted of crimes. Additionally they heard of Jim’s considerations about Andrew possessing weapons when his youngsters have been current.
Andrew was hauled in for questioning on July 22, 2008. He was first reticent, however shortly started performing responsible below questioning till lastly asserting his proper to counsel. Whereas they needed to let him depart, the cops endured in questioning Andrew. To find suspect late-night calls, some after one within the morning on the night time Jim vanished, they searched via his cellphone data. The calls have been made to Brian Folsom, a parolee who used meth and had a historical past of psychological issues.
The police shortly found additional connections after studying that Brian had labored for Andrew’s firm beforehand. Moreover, he had an extended felony historical past. Throughout the questioning, Brian broke down and admitted to being concerned in Jim’s homicide. He asserted that on July 10, 2008, Andrew gave him cash to abduct Jim from the Lone Pine Leisure Space and take him to the remoted area of Soiled Gulch in Fremont County, near Cotopaxi. With cellphone wires, Brian sure Jim’s arms to a tree, taped his eyes and mouth shut, then shackled Jim to the tree.
Then, in accordance with Brian, he returned to Andrew, who later returned to shoot Jim and get rid of his physique. Kristin contacted to inform she had some data concerning her boyfriend Andrew because the police have been analyzing all of this materials. She asserted on August 28, 2008, that Andrew had murdered Jim out of envy. Nonetheless, the cops had found her lies. Jim’s girlfriend in Wyoming stated he hadn’t been attempting to reconcile together with her, regardless of Kristin’s preliminary declare.
The cops additionally found that Kristin would stand to achieve practically $500,000 ought to Jim go away previous to their divorce’s ultimate court docket order. When confronted with all of those particulars and Brian’s admission, Kristin broke down and admitted that it was she who had used their youngsters as bait to entice Jim to the Lone Pine Leisure Space and hinted to Andrew to kill her husband. In 2008, Kristin, Brian, and Andrew have been detained and charged with murdering Jim.
The place are Kristin Durgan, Brian Folsom, and Andrew Tanner At this time?
On July 10, 2009, after admitting guilt to counts of second-degree homicide and kidnapping, Brian Folsom acquired a 48-year jail time period. In April 2014, he filed for post-conviction aid, however the request was denied. The 43-year-old is being detained on the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Crowley County, Colorado, and is housed in a cell there. His anticipated date of eligibility for launch is August 20, 2040, in accordance with his jail data.
In September 2009, Andrew Tanner was discovered responsible of first-degree homicide, kidnapping, conspiracy, and violent crime. He was given a life sentence with out the potential for parole. The 36-year-old is at present serving his sentence in a cell on the Limon Correctional Facility in Lincoln County, Colorado, in accordance with official court docket data.
In April 2009, Kristin admitted guilt to second-degree homicide and kidnapping costs. She additionally testified in opposition to Andrew in his court docket case. She acquired a 54-year jail time period. The 54-year-old is at present detained on the Denver Girls’s Correctional Facility (DWCF) in Denver, Colorado, the place she is being held in a cell, in accordance with official court docket data. Based on her jail data, her predicted date of eligibility for parole is March 6, 2043.