Coty Vernon
Obituaries
Eagle Valley Enterprise - March 26, 1998
Eagle County Sheriff's investigators have no fresh leads regarding the disappearance of Coty Vernon, an 18-year-old Gypsum woman reported missing last month.
Vernon disappeared shortly after she and Jason Garner, her 20-year-old boyfriend visited her grandparents in Grand Junction last month. The vehicle the pair was traveling in was later found on a rural road along the county line between Mesa and Garfield counties near Parachute, but only one person--Garner--was in the car when it was left there.
Local police say there is not yet any evidence to indicate foul play in the case. Eagle County CrimeStoppers and Vernon's father are offering a $4,000 reward for information leading to Vernon's whereabouts. For more information, call CrimeStoppers, 328-7007, or 1-800-962-TIPS.
Eagle Valley Enterprise - March 5, 1998
There are no new leads in the case of a young Gypsum woman missing since Feb.17.
That's when Coty Vernon was last seen, in Grand Junction, in the company of Jason Garner, her 20-year-old boyfriend. After the pair left Vernon's grandparents' home, it's uncertain what happened.
Garner has told police several different versions of what happened that evening, but police say, none of the stories quite add up. The car the pair was traveling in was found on a gravel road on the Mesa-Garfield county line, but Vernon apparently wasn't in the car when it was left at the site.
Last weekend, about 80 police officers and search and rescue team members from across the Western Slope launched a massive ground search of the area in which the car was found. Nothing was found.
Eagle County Sheriff's investigator James Van Beek said police still have two possible scenarios--that Vernon simply doesn't want to be found, or that she was a victim of foul play--but don't have enough evidence to prove either theory.
Also this week, Vernon's father, Terry Vernon, has added $3,000 to the $1,000 reward Eagle County Crime Stoppers is offering for information about Coty's whereabouts. All Crime Stoppers informants remain anonymous. To report any incident to Crime Stoppers, call 328-7007 or 1-800-962-TIPS
Eagle Valley Enterprise page Page 7 - February 26, 1998
Coty Vernon isn't in trouble. She isn't wanted for, or suspected of anything. She just needs to call home. If you know her, tell her that.
That's the message Vernon's parents and the Eagle County Sheriff's Office are desperately trying to get out this week, more than a week after the 18-year-old Gypsum resident disappeared.
Vernon was last seen in Grand Junction at about 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 17. She was in the company of her 20-year-old boyfriend, Jason Garner. Garner has told police conflicting stories about what happened, none of which quite add up, said Sheriff's investigator James Van Beek.
After Vernon was reported missing, Garner was arrested on an outstanding warrant for an unrelated incident. He has since been released on bond. Van Beek said Garner remains the primary source of information about Vernon's whereabouts, but his unwillingness, or ability, to tell one consistent story remains frustrating.
Since last week, investigators in Mesa, Garfield and Eagle counties have received several reports of Vernon's whereabouts. People in Grand Junction and Gypsum have reported seeing the young woman, but no one has yet been able to contact her.
Those sightings have everyone involved in the case optimistic she will be found alive. But until she turns up, there's no way to know. Similarly, Van Beek said that there's no evidence to indicate foul play in Vernon's disappearance. "But we don't have any evidence that there wasn't foul play either." he said.
As you'd expect, Vernon's parents are confused , frustrated and worried sick. Terry Vernon, the woman's father returned to the area this week to do what he can and support Vernon's mother, who lives in Gypsum.
The elder Vernon said that while his contact with his daughter had been sporadic over the past several months, there were no problems he knows of that would prompt her disappearance. More curious, the young woman's grandmother was set to come to the area to stay a while. Since her grandmother is one of Coty's favorite people, it's especially odd she'd disappear right now.
The most plausible current explanation for Vernon's disappearance is methamphetamine, a currently low-cost stimulant. Van Beek said the crowd she's been running with lately is comprised mostly of known drug users. That helps explain a lot of the hazy information police have received so far.
But none of that really matters. Said Terry Vernon: "People just want to know where she is. She just needs to give us a phone call."
Eagle Valley Enterprise - January 2, 2003
A Mesa County coroner has ruled that a sharp instrument was the cause of 18-year-old Coty Vernon's death in February, 1998
Vernon was a resident of a Gypsum when she was last seen in Grand Junction on Feb. 15, 1998. Her skeletal remains were found by an elk hunter in early December about 10 miles southeast of DeBeque.
At the time Vernon disappeared, she was accompanied by a boyfriend, Jason Garner, then 20 years old. The couple was headed to a party in rural Mesa County.
Garner showed up alone at the ranch house the following morning, and could not account for Vernon's whereabouts. Law enforcement officials were able to find Vernon's car, but could not locate the girl following an exhaustive search of the area involving volunteers, law officers, National Guard helicopters, and specially trained dogs.
Sgt. Rusty Callow of the Mesa County Sheriff's Office Complex Crimes Unit said the case remains under active investigation. However, the Sheriff's Office is not at this time releasing information.
"I'm relatively confident that we will solve this case. It may take some time, but I think it will be solved," said Callow.
Vernon's remains were outside of the area that was searched when she initially disappeared, he noted. Callow indicated that the discovery of the body was a welcome development for the investigators who have long been working the case.
"We can bring some closure to the case. That's the kind of break we were looking for. It finally came about," said Callow.
Eagle Valley Enterprise page 4 - February 13, 2003
A Mesa County Grand Jury has been asked to review the circumstances surrounding the death of an 18-year-old Gypsum girl in 1998.
Coty Raquel Vernon disappeared four years ago after a trip to Grand Junction with her boyfriend, Jason Garner.
An elk hunter found Vernon's skeletal remains about eight miles southeast of De Beque last November. Several weeks later, a Mesa County coroner classified the death as a homicide, ruling that Vernon had been stabbed.
Vernon and Garner were seen in Grand Junction late the evening of Feb. 18, 1998, as they were leaving town.
On the morning of Nov.18, 1998, Garner walked to a ranch house in isolated country south of Interstate 70 in rural Garfield County, and asked to use the telephone, indicating he was stranded. There was no sign of Vernon. Garner gave several conflicting stories, indicating the two had attended a party near De Beque. He could not account for Vernon. Vernon's car was found with Garner's footprints around it.
Grand juries have the power to subpoena witnesses and evidence, and can issue indictments. Grand jury investigations are not public while ongoing.
Eagle Valley Enterprise - December 23, 2004
GRAND JUNCTION – Jason Garner, the man who was with Gypsum resident Coty Vernon when she disappeared in February, 1998, has been convicted of first-degree murder by a Grand Junction jury. Prosecutors persuaded the jury that Garner, now 27, had stabbed Vernon in a drug-fueled rage six years ago. The presiding judge immediately imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison, without parole.
”I’m glad it’s over, and I’m glad he won’t be able to hurt anyone else. He’s where he needs to be,” says Gypsum resident Janet Reid, Vernon’s mother. Vernon was 18 at the time of her disappearance, and Garner was 20. “It’s sad for everybody,” Reid says. “His life is ruined, and our daughter’s (life) is gone.” Reid credits the resolution of the convoluted case to many factors, including some initial work by a pair of former Eagle County Sheriff’s investigators. She also cites the persistence of her ex-husband, Terry Vernon, in pushing for a grand jury investigation five years after Coty’s disappearance, despite the fact that, at that point, her body had not been found. Midway through that grand jury session, in December, 2002, an elk hunter found Coty’s skeletal remains in a ravine about 10 miles southeast of De Beque, near the Garfield-Mesa county line. An autopsy revealed sharp force injuries on the skeleton, consistent with knife wounds. The grand jury issued an indictment for Garner on a charge of murder. Case starts in Eagle County According to Eagle County Sheriff’s Office files, Reid last saw her daughter on the evening of Feb. 15, 1998. Vernon was accompanied by a friend, Jason Garner, a stocky, 20-year-old man from Grand Junction with some local ties whom she had been seeing for about two weeks. Garner had spent some of his school years in this valley. The couple indicated they were on their way to Grand Junction, where Garner lived with his grandmother. Case records compiled by the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office indicate that he had a history involving drugs and domestic violence. He was on unsupervised probation for previous problems at the time he started seeing Vernon.
The couple was seen in Grand Junction late in the evening of Feb. 17, 1998, as they were leaving. Vernon was not seen again, but on the morning of Feb. 18, Garner walked to a ranch house in the middle of isolated country south of I-70 in rural Garfield County, and asked to use the telephone, indicating he was stranded. There was no sign of Vernon. When interviewed by Garfield County authorities, Garner told the first of several conflicting stories. He said Vernon had picked him up in Grand Junction the previous evening for the ride back to Gypsum. He could not account for what happened afterwards, saying he woke up on the ground in a remote area. During that interview, Garner claimed no drugs or alcohol were involved. At some point, he reportedly told an officer he needed some help finding his girlfriend, who was lost on a mountain. Law enforcement officers located Vernon’s car; but did not locate her. When they realized Garner was wanted on some outstanding warrants, he was initially taken to the Garfield County jail, then transferred to Eagle County. That was when he asked to talk with Greg Beaumont, then a detective for the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, who had been involved in a previous case involving Garner. Beaumont, who is now an investigator for the Ft. Collins Police Department, said Garner told him that the pair had been partying in the backcountry, and using methamphetamines, when they became separated. Garner indicated the pair had been walking, calling back and forth to one another, but he lost contact with Vernon. That interview played a significant role years later in both the grand jury investigation, and the murder trial. ”With his own words he placed himself there … out there with her in the middle of nowhere, and she is murdered,” Beaumont said. At one point, Garner indicated that he was so high on drugs that he imagined two additional people were in the back seat of the car. At Beaumont’s request, the National Guard used helicopters to canvas the area where Vernon’s car was found, with no results. Beaumont and a fellow Eagle County investigator, James van Beek, traveled to the De Beque area, and searched Vernon’s car. It was van Beek who found Vernon’s coat hanging from a tree, some distance from her vehicle. Coty Vernon could not be found, despite some intensive search efforts .Beaumont recalls that, at some point, Garner commented to a fellow jail inmate that searchers were looking too low on the mountain for Vernon, and indicated her body was up higher.
Grand jury investigates Reid says she instinctively knew that her daughter was dead two days after Coty disappeared. Worried, Reid was pacing around her Gypsum home, wearing one of Coty’s sweaters. ”I knew that she was in trouble. I had the most awful feeling in my heart and soul that wherever she was it was dark, cold, and she was scared,” recalls Reid. She prayed. ”At about 4:30 a.m., I felt like her spirit passed. It was over. Whatever …there was no more to be done,” she recalls. Without a body, or proof of a crime, the case stalled, but Garner continued to find trouble. At the time the grand jury investigation was underway, he was facing theft and fraud charges. His record includes convictions for drug possession, trespass, assault, and drunken driving. It was Coty’s father, Terry Vernon, who kept pushing the case. He posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to her disappearance. He mailed out flyers to businesses between Eagle and Grand Junction. Several times, he flew from his home in Florida to look for her. Her parents always suspected that Garner was responsible for Coty’s death.
Terry Vernon also pushed for a grand jury investigation. In fact, that grand jury session was well underway when Vernon’s body was found in December, 2002. That had a big effect on the grand jury’s decision to indict. That indictment led to last week’s trial. Beaumont and van Beek testified before the grand jury, and at Garner’s trial last week, along with more than 40 witnesses. Defense attorneys argued that Garner did not know what happened to Vernon after the two got separated, while walking for help after their vehicle got stuck on a rural road .After 12 hours of deliberating, the jurors found Garner guilty of first-degree murder. ”In my opinion, the whole driving force that solved the case was Terry Vernon,” says Beaumont.
A life lost,Garner’s conviction does bring some peace to Coty’s family. ”We got the right person. There’s no doubt in any person’s mind,” says Reid. “We finally do have justice. It doesn’t make you feel good, but justice has finally been done in this case. ”Still, there is unrest. She worries that her daughter may have lived for at least a day after being stabbed. She frets that, had Garner alerted authorities sooner to start a search, her daughter would have survived. And just finding the body would have saved the family five years of hopelessness. She also wonders what went wrong with the pretty girl with the hazel eyes and brown hair, who was smart enough to graduate from high school at age 16, and who had always dreamed of going on to college to become a lawyer. Beaumont shares some of those thoughts.”(Garner and Coty) had known each other for two weeks. It is a shame. They got into meth, and it screwed up their lives,” he says. “I would still like to think that, at some point, maybe she could have straightened her life out. ”She just hooked up with the wrong person one time,” Reid adds. “That’s all it takes. Kids don’t realize that. ”Reid admits that she will probably never really know what Garner did to her daughter. She rationalizes that “everything happens for a reason." I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with what happened to my daughter, but I hope somehow I will be able to use it to help other families and kids,” she says. Reid plans to get involved with a family-counseling center in Edwards, she says. ”Maybe my story will make a difference in someone’s life,” she concludes.
Vail Daily page A3 - December 18, 2002
The body of Coty Vernon, a Gypsum woman who was 18 when she disappeared mysteriously nearly five years ago, has been found in a remote part of Mesa County, authorities say.
Skeletal remains found late Friday afternoon by an elk hunter about 10 miles south of Debeque in a rugged area unreachable by car have been positively identified as Vernon, Mesa County Sheriff's Deputy Tanya Brechlin said Tuesday.
The cause of death, however may not be determined for several weeks, Brechlin said.
Vernon's mother, Jane Reid, said Tuesday it has been agonizing waiting to find out what happened to her daughter.
"I knew the second when she was gone that she was really gone," said Reid, who now lives in Missouri. "I knew she wasn't out partying for a week or two, because she wasn't that type of person. She would always touch base at home."
Vernon was last seen in Grand Junction Feb. 16, 1998. Her then 20-year-old boyfriend reported her missing, telling authorities he'd left her behind in a secluded area of Debeque and gone for help because their car was stuck, authorities said.
The following day, the boyfriend led police to the car which was parked in a secluded area near the border of Mesa and Garfield counties, authorities said.
There was no sign of Vernon, not even footsteps leading away from the car, authorities said.
"The elk hunter found her remains in a very remote area," Brechlin said. "It's a very rocky and steep terrain that's not even accessible by vehicle."
Reid said she hopes anyone who knows anything about her daughter's death will contact authorities in either Eagle or Mesa counties.
"Coty was a really great person," Reid said. "She was very outgoing. She loved to have fun and she was very enthusiastic about life."
Coty loved the outdoors, having played softball and ran track in high school, but she was taking some time off from school when whe disappeared, Reid said.
The politically and socially conscious young woman planned to study law, but hadn't decided where to attend college, Reid said.
Reid said she and her daughter had a close relationship. Vernon also spent a lot of time with her younger brother, David, who is now 14, she said.
"We miss her terribly," Reid said. "She would've made a great attorney if she'd had the chance."
Forensic investigators analyzed her remains to determine the cause of death, Brechlin said.
"We just don't know if she died of natural causes wandering off or if foul play was involved," Brechlin said. "All we have are skeletal remains and that makes the investigation very time-consuming."
Forensics experts with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation are assisting the Mesa County Sheriff's with the investigation, she said.
