The strange disappearance of Jerry Lee McKoen from Door Knob Snowmobile Park

March 6, 2018 StrangeOutdoors

Jerry Lee McKoen, disappeared September 21, 2002, Door Knob Snowmobile Park in Siskiyou County, California

Revised May 2024

Jerry McKoen, 48, was last seen at approximately 4.30 to 5:30 am on September 21, 2002, at his home near the 24200 block of Old Malin Highway in Malin, Oregon, halfway between Merrill and Malin.

Jerry headed out for the hunt to Door Knob Snowmobile Park in Siskiyou County, California, 40 miles south of Klamath Falls, with his usual bow and arrows, preferring this method to firearms. The area is in the shadow of Mount Shasta.

But he never returned, and despite a large search effort, no evidence of his whereabouts has ever been uncovered.

Who was Jerry McKoen?

Jerry was no novice to the outdoors and was renowned in the area as an avid and experienced outdoorsman. He grew potatoes, alfalfa and grain on his family's farm, and lived with his parents, Clifford and Bertha McKoen.

He was single and very independent, and while he lived at home on the family farm, he would come and go as he pleased.

The hunting trip

McKoen drove away from the house in his brown and white 1986 GMC pickup truck, which had a distinctive camper shell that ran the length of the bed. He parked a Honda 185XL motorcycle beside the canopy, and he used the motorbike to explore wilderness areas.

Jerry was reported missing when he failed to return that day from the hunting trip.

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The search

Jerry’s truck was found two weeks after he disappeared on October 8, west of Medicine Lake Road in a heavily wooded area south of Door Knob Snowmobile Park in Siskiyou County, California. The area is 40 miles south of Klamath Falls, in the shadow of Mount Shasta.

Some hunters had bought a box of potatoes from a packing shed in the valley, and it had a poster on the wall relating to Jerry's disappearance and a picture of the pickup. When they saw the pickup they knew immediately it belonged to McKoen.

Jerry's friends and family went to the place his truck was found. It didn't take them long to realize something wasn’t right with the scene they found. The radio was off and the heater was on high. There was no sign of him at the scene and no evidence of foul play.

Jerry's mother, Bertha McKoen, said: "It looked pretty much just like you'd think he'd leave it." Saying his disappearance was "hard to believe. We're doing all right. As good as can be expected, but there's a real puzzlement to it."

Nearly 100 volunteers combed a portion of the Modoc National Forest, with the Sheriff's office saying, "No trace of the missing man, no clues whatsoever, were found." The search included dog teams and an air search by the California Highway Patrol helicopter. Searchers used global positioning system devices to make sure no areas were missed, covering eight to 10 square miles in the vicinity.

What happened to Jerry McKoen?

Bertha knew her son was in trouble as soon as she learned he was missing. "He's a homebody. Plus, his dad's birthday was on Wednesday, and he definitely wouldn't have missed that." She believed something happened to her son. "I think he met up with foul play. We don't think he drove his pickup there." He would usually leave a note, and that day, he didn’t.

The family put up 2,500 posters across the area, including information about a $20,000 reward within the first week of their son’s disappearance.

McKoen's friends believed he went hunting either at the Klamath Marsh, 50 miles north of Klamath Falls, at the Gearhart or Christmas Valley areas or in the Beatty or Fort Klamath Seven-mile areas.

Friend Terry Guthrie, who has known Jerry since he was six years old, said, "I hunted with him for 18 years, and every time he left the pickup, he never locked it, and this time, it was locked. It's just certain things like that that started making me believe there was a possible foul play involved."

Guthrie said, "We don't know whether Jerry went down there for a purpose, or that Jerry didn't even go down there, or someone was forcing him to go down there. There's no explanation for it."

It is strange that no sign of Jerry was found in the area where his vehicle was discovered, and no evidence of his bow and arrows was found in an area of low timber and relatively accessible. To date, nothing has been found. Jerry’s disappearance remains a mystery.

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