The Disappearance of Colleen Wood

For this case I watched an episode of Disappeared, it’s season 6 episode 4, titled ‘Dark Voyage.’

A woman is swept off her feet by a new man, however he’s not the man she thinks he is.

Background

Colleen Wood was a 52 year old mom of two, originally from Akron, Ohio. In 1998, Colleen’s job at a hospital had downsized and she lost her job. She was falling on hard times, when she made the decision to move to Florida for a fresh start.

Colleen was described as being very adventurous, and had always wanted to move somewhere new. She told her now adult sons, Michael and Todd she was finally going to live out her dream and move. She was excited, and they were excited for her.

Colleen’s Fresh Start

It didn’t take long for Colleen to make new friends in Fort Lauderdale. She became an officer manager at the Lighthouse Point Marina. Her boss and friend Maureen said everyone called Colleen the ‘marina mom,’ and everyone adored her.

As the Disappeared episode said, Colleen wasn’t looking for love, but she found it after she answered an ad in the newspaper for a boating companion. The ad was put out by a 60 year old man named John Paul Sr. John was a Harvard graduate, and told Colleen he had worked on Wall Street in the 60’s. Colleen was smitten.

John often took Colleen on extravagant dates, bought her flowers and jewelry. John also wanted to take Colleen on his yacht and sail around the world with her. Colleen accepted and soon they were making their plans.

Red Flags

In August of 2000, Michael, Colleen’s son, met John for the first time. Michael was interviewed in this episode, and he said John was nice, but very reserved. Michael also took notice that John always had a drink in his hand, but didn’t think too much of it because he could hold his liquor.

Colleen told Michael that she and John were going to sail for awhile, and that she was going to sell her condo, clothes and various items. Michael was concerned, but said Colleen could make her own decisions.

Colleen’s friends, Barbara and Maureen, who were also interviewed, were concerned as well. They both met John, and knew how charming he could be. They thought John was very persuasive, and knew it was his idea for Colleen to sell her items. They wanted to be happy for their friend and they were.

Colleen also quit her job at the marina, and she and John were ready to set sail.

Disappearance Timeline

On Sunday, December 3, 2000, Michael called Colleen to wish her a happy birthday. He said she seemed like her usual happy self, and she was gushing about some presents she was going to send for her grandchildren. Colleen told Michael that when she and John docked in Key West, she would send them and some financial records for him. Colleen also told Michael that she was going to disconnect her phone service soon and would contact him in a few weeks.

On Friday, December 15, 2000, Maureen called Colleen to invite her to the marina’s annual Christmas party. Colleen said they’d be there, but she never showed up.

A few weeks later, Michael was confused about not receiving anything in the mail yet from his mom. He wasn’t too concerned yet, not until mid-January. He notified the Coast Guard to be on the lookout for the Island Girl, their boat that Colleen named.

Michael also started contacting everyone Colleen would have been in contact with. He discovered that Colleen’s phone service was disconnected due to lack of payment, and he didn’t have John’s number. Michael did what all concerned people do, he turned to the internet and found out some shocking information about John Paul Sr.

John Paul’s Secrets

When Michael searched Paul online, he found that Paul had been a race car driver, but that he had a criminal background. He had actually just been released from prison just months before he met Colleen. He had been arrested for drug smuggling, money laundering and attempted first degree murder.

On April 19, 1983, John ambushed a man named Stephen Carson. Stephen Carson had turned John in for smuggling drugs from Colombia to Louisiana. Stephen had received immunity in return for his testimony. Stephen was shot in the chest, stomach and leg, but he survived. John was given a 20 year sentence.

In 1987, he was released on bail and fled to Switzerland, and then was released from prison in 1999, and was out on parole when he met Colleen.

Michael Takes Charge

Michael was shocked and angry. He blamed himself for not seeing through John’s lies. Michael was now ready to get answers, but he wasn’t sure how to start. He started by calling the Akron, Ohio police, and asked who he should call. They told him he needed to find Colleen’s last known address. Michael found that Colleen’s last known address was a mailing center that she and John had registered to to pick up their mail, but they haven’t picked up their mail in months.

Michael filed a missing persons report with the Ft. Lauderdale police. They were not helpful, and said there was no evidence of any crime being committed.

Three days later, Detective Mark Shotwell of the Ft. Lauderdale PD contacted Michael and wanted to help.

Finding John

When Det. Shotwell was searching for any leads or signs of John and the boat, he realized that Colleen, John and the boat had all disappeared. John was about to return though.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2001, Michael received a call from John at 7am. John told Michael he didn’t know where Colleen was. He said he last saw her after she stormed off the boat, and they had been fighting. He said she came back days later to collect her things. Michael said John seemed like he didn’t care about his mom and the fact that she was missing.

The next day, John’s boat was found fifty miles from Key West, but John was missing again. He resurfaced on April 30, 2001. Actually, Detective Shotwell found him. He told John he was looking into the disappearance of Colleen. John said he had just gotten back from Europe, and told the detectives the same story he told Michael. However, he added that he and Colleen had been fighting over money. He had loaned her money and she didn’t pay him back. She left the boat and came back to collect her things. The police didn’t have any evidence to arrest John.

John Disappears AGAIN

The police did learn that John had violated his parole, he hadn’t been showing up for his regular visits with his parole officer. The police were able to obtain a warrant for John’s arrest for parole violation, but it was too late. John had disappeared again.

The police needed to determine when Colleen disappeared, so they obtain a warrant for her phone and financial records, as well as John’s.

The police determined that Colleen’s last calls were made on December 15, the same day that Maureen had called her to invite her to the Christmas party. Maureen told the police that Colleen had told her she was in Key West at the time. Maureen also told the police that she was receiving calls about Colleen’s credit cards. Maureen told the company that Colleen didn’t work at the marina anymore. She found it very suspicious.

The police did find Colleen’s records very odd. Colleen had the same spending pattern up until December 18. There were many different withdraws from various locations. The police wanted to look at the surveillance cameras to see if Colleen could still be alive.

The Surveillance Footage

Michael was in constant contact with Det. Shotwell, and he flew down to Ft. Lauderdale after he found out about his mom’s credit cards being used. He wanted to see the surveillance footage for himself.

When they looked at the screen grabs from the ATMs, they realized it was not Colleen. The footage showed two different women making the withdraws. The police were able to identify the women and question them. They told the police that a man had asked them to withdraw different amounts, and he would give them 10-20% of that amount. The man was none other than John Paul.

Michael said that Colleen had made copies of her credit cards and pin numbers, and that there were copies on her computer, which was most likely still on the boat.

John had also been putting out more ads in the newspaper for a romantic partner and travel companion, as early as December 15 when he was still with Colleen. Did John kill Colleen for her money?

Will Colleen’s case ever be solved?

John was still missing. The Ft. Lauderdale police contacted multiple federal agencies to flag John’s passport and to search for the boat.

Throughout the years, there have been multiple sightings of John. He was spotted in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 2004 he was seen in Fiji, but Fiji doesn’t have an extradition law. He had been spotted around Asia and Europe.

The police were contacted by a woman who had been on John’s boat. She had made a connection that John was involved with Colleen’s disappearance, and she took Colleen’s computer off the boat and gave it to Det. Shotwell.

The last anyone has heard from John was in 2009. He was seen in Thailand, and was planning to sell his boat and open a dive shop. As of the airing of Disappeared, he remained a person of interest and no sign of Colleen was found.

Michael said he wants to know what happened and wants closure.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The theory is that John was verbally abusive to Colleen, especially when he drank. He was a greedy man, and wanted her money so he killed her. John had been taking in money from his son after his release from prison, and was pretending to be a wealthy person. He prayed on innocent people, and maybe Colleen saw through his lies and she lost her life.

I hope one day Colleen’s family, especially her sons, get the answers they deserve. Also, shoutout to Detective Shotwell, he seemed to be the only person in law enforcement that cared about Colleen.

I did some additional digging on John Paul, and this isn’t the first time someone has gone missing that he was connected to. His wife Chalice went missing in the summer of 1981. That’s all the information I could find about that, but this dude is TERRIBLE.

Sources

https://unsolved.com/gallery/colleen-wood/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Sr._(racing_driver)

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/John_Paul

https://amwfans.com/thread/2396/john-paul-sr-florida-2001