IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS/ Family, friends wonder why teen didn't reach

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Aug 6, 2002 | by Cary Leider Vogrin

As teens, they'd go ghost-hunting in a tunnel on Gold Camp Road or jump on Jeff's trampoline. Sometimes they'd go clothes shopping, one of Jeff's favorite pastimes.

Jeff was a neat freak, so much that Cristy thought he had obsessive-compulsive disorder. He'd tell her not to hug him too tight so his shirt wouldn't wrinkle. His mom said Jeff refused to let anyone else wash or iron his clothes.

He even ironed his dollar bills to keep them crisp.

But Jeff was a lot of show, Cristy said.

"When he was with me, he was a different person," she said. "I saw him cry."

This was a guy who used to give her pedicures.

Signs of change

Cristy tried to keep Jeff on the straight and narrow.

"Cristy brought out the good in him," Debi said. "Cristy brought out the person he wanted to be."

But she couldn't stop Jeff from getting in trouble, mostly for running away from home. When Jeff was about 16, the court ordered him to a structured, residential academic program in Yerington, Nev., southeast of Reno.

"I think it helped him," Debi said. "He needed structure."

His parents visited him midway through the program and took him snowmobiling around Lake Tahoe. Jeff seemed to be doing well.

Debi and Terry sat at their dining room table Monday and thumbed through a three-ring binder full of certificates Jeff earned while in the program, called Rite of Passage. He became EMT-certified and completed several computer classes. He played junior varsity football.

"Everybody there loved him to pieces," Debi said.

After he returned to Colorado, Jeff talked of enlisting in the military and maybe becoming a dentist someday. He went back to Doherty and got jobs at the Sonic drive-in and the Grocery Warehouse near his home.

In May, he and Cristy went to Doherty's prom at The Broadmoor.

But Debi said he wasn't saying much at home and wouldn't open up to her.

"I tried to get close to him, but he wouldn't let me in."

When Jeff started attending church services with Cristy almost a year ago, those who loved him hoped it was a good sign.

"He said when he came out he felt cleansed and refreshed," Cristy said.

A fatal decision

Jeff continued to face problems.

He was a few credits shy of graduating in the spring but planned to return to Doherty this fall to get his diploma.

Last month, he quit his job at Grocery Warehouse, where he was a stocker.

Then his mom found him awake in the middle of the night, writing. She thinks it was the suicide letter.

About 3 a.m. July 15, Jeff called his dad, whose job is based in El Paso, Texas. He left a message, saying only that he loved him and was sorry. Terry called his son's cell phone several times but got only voice mail.

On the night of July 24, Jeff apparently tried to rob the Grocery Warehouse where he once worked and was the suspect in a home- invasion robbery on South Tejon Street.

In both cases, Jeff left before taking any money or hurting anyone.

Jeff was in hiding for some time before the robbery attempts. His parents don't know where he got a gun. They didn't even know where he was staying.