Gene Allen McPherson

• Missing Since 05/23/1987
• Missing From Roanoke, Virginia
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Age 42 years old
• Height and Weight 6'2, 230 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A short-sleeved plaid shirt, tan Dockers shoes and a belt with his name "Gene" on it.
• Associated Vehicle(s) Silver four-wheel-drive 1978 Ford pickup truck with a vanity licence plate reading "GENE-44" (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes.

Details of Disappearance

McPherson was last seen in New Castle, Virginia on May 23, 1987. That day he saw his brother, who happened to be the county sheriff. McPherson talked about plans to shop for furniture and trimmings for a house he was building in Cuba, Virginia. He also saw friends that day, and told them he was going to a cabin where he had been having trysts with a married woman for years.

He was last seen at 7:30 p.m., driving alone on Virginia 615 towards Botetourt County. His silver four-wheel-drive 1978 Ford pickup truck with a vanity licence plate reading "GENE-44" was later seen parked off the roadside near Oriskany, Virginia. He has never been heard from again. A photo of the pickup is posted with this case summary.

Three days later, McPherson's pickup was found abandoned at a southbound rest area off Interstate 81, near Radford, Virginia. There was no blood in the truck or other clear signs of violence, but tape cassettes had been thrown on the floorboard, McPherson's sunglasses were also on the floor, and a rifle he kept in the truck was missing. There was no indication of his whereabouts.

Weeks later, a highway worker found McPherson's wallet lying in the grass on the side of Interstate 81, a few miles from the rest area.

At the time of his disappearance, McPherson worked as a carpenter at Catawba Hospital, where he was known to be a reliable employee who always scheduled it in advance when he needed to miss work. He is one of seven children. He left his five pedigreed coonhounds behind at home without making arrangements for them to be cared for.

John Edwin Colclasure Jr., a career criminal, confessed to McPherson's murder in November 1987 while serving life plus 156 years in prison more than 40 other offenses, mostly armed robberies and escapes. He was a "hardened, career criminal" well known to prosecutors across the state, and had a history of implicating others in his crimes but refusing to testify against the alleged accomplices. Earlier that year, as an inmate in the Norfolk Jail, he'd confessed about 100 robberies and burglaries to the police. He told the media he did it in exchange for being permitted to have conjugal visits with his girlfriend, something the sheriff vehemently denied.

Colclasure stated he and another man were hired to kill McPherson. They were paid $10,000, and the person who hired them was the husband of McPherson's lover. He said McPherson's lover was also involved, because she was angry that McPherson had begun seeing a former girlfriend again. Colclasure stated that after McPherson arrived at the cabin where he planned to meet his lover, he was struck on the head with a heavy metal object and shot repeatedly in the head and body with a .38-caliber pistol provided by his lover's husband.

Colclasure claimed a cloth bag containing McPherson's severed head and a glass jar containing his heart, parts of his brain and other organs was buried under a rosebush on the grounds of the cabin, his hands and arms were a few miles away, and McPherson's torso had been put inside a sleeping bag, weighed down with a logging chain and dumped in Smith Mountain Lake.

Extensive searches turned up nothing, and Colclasure's stories changed multiple times. He was taken out of prison so he could lead authorities to McPherson's remains, but while out on escort he tried to escape with a handgun he pulled out from underneath a rock, shot at the officers escorting him, and was shot in turn. He was treated for his injuries in the hospital and returned to prison.

Although there was no body or confirmed motive, Colclasure was charged with McPherson's murder. In May 1989, facing the death penalty, he pleaded guilty in exchange for a sentence of life in prison. McPherson's lover and her husband were never charged in the case and denied knowing Colslasure or having anything to do with McPherson's disappearance. The husband is now deceased.

The other man whom Colclasure said participating in the murder was never charged either, or even publicly named, although he admitted to killing McPherson and said he'd been paid $7,500, and he was able to direct authorities to the cabin where the murder is said to have happened.

This man stated that the morning after the murder, when he placed a call from a pay phone to the person who hired him to say it was done, he paid using a credit card number provided by that man.  McPherson's lover and her husband were staying at a motel in Richmond, Virginia on the day of McPherson's disappearance and the day after.

Authorities were able to find a record of that call and it was charged to a credit card number issued in the maiden name of McPherson's lover, and the call had been made to the motel she and her husband had been staying in. When asked about the call, McPherson's lover's husband admitted he'd received a call, but said it was from an antique car dealer who wanted to contact him about a car.

In 2001, Colclasure contacted an officer with the Virginia State Police and said he was dying of hepatitis and wanted to say what really happened to McPherson. Colclasure stated that he and the other killer were accompanied to McPherson's slaying by a woman, and that this woman "went berserk" and Colclasure killed her as well because he feared she'd report the murder she had just witnessed. He said he had buried them together, and offered to lead authorities to the grave.

The officer stated he believed Colclasure's story, but due to his previous escape attempt, authorities were not willing to risk letting him out of prison so he could show them where the grave was. Colclasure died in prison in 2002 at the age of fifty.

McPherson's remains have never been found. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.