John Glasgow served as the Chief Financial Officer of CDI Contractors. John Glasgow was 45-years-old and was a very successful and well-known businessman within the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. John had a wife, Melinda, and John was a happy family man. He seemed to have the perfect life. He was known as “bright,” “intelligent,” and truly loved his job.
Glasgow vanished without a trace in 2008 after reporting financial irregularities with the Clinton library construction costs and his skeletal remains were found at Petit Jean State Park in 2015. His cause of death is undetermined.
CDI Contractors is located in Little Rock, Arkansas, an Arkansas-based firm providing construction services across the United States. CDI Contractors was jointly-owned, and the company served in a partnership with Dillards, Inc. John was responsible for keeping the CDI company accounts and financial statements in order, and John was known by his colleagues as a great accountant. Once the owner of CDI Contractors, Bill Clark, passed away in 2007, CDI’s partner, Dillard’s Inc., decided to redistribute the company’s stock among CDI’s executives; one of these individuals was John Glasgow. Before the stocks could be distributed, Dillard’s Inc. wanted to make sure that CDI’s accounts were in order.
In January of 2008, Dillard’s Inc. hired external auditors to edit the CDI financial reports. According to John’s colleagues and family, he seemed to be getting more and more stressed as the audit pressed on, but everyone thought this was normal due to the pressure of Dillard’s combing through all of the financial reports. At this point in time, John was working long hours at the office and seemed very drained. The weekend before his disappearance, he was seen in the office working, and according to his wife, he seemed distracted.
Monday, January 28, 2008
5:15 a.m.
This was the last time John W. Glasgow was ever seen alive.
That morning when his wife, Melinda, woke up for work, John was nowhere to be found. Around 2:30 p.m. that afternoon, Melinda gets a call from one of John’s coworkers asking Melinda if she had spoken with John as he had not come into work that day. Immediately, Melinda knew something was wrong. Melinda proceeds to call John’s brother Roger requesting him to meet her at her home. They made phone calls to their friends and family hoping someone had seen or heard from John. They went to talk to the neighbors, and one neighbor reported seeing John’s vehicle leaving the house that morning around 5:15 a.m. This struck John’s brother Roger as strange because this was too early for John to be leaving for work. That afternoon, Melinda decides to call the police department.
At 5:45 p.m., the Little Rock Police Department sends an officer to the Glasgow residence to file a missing person’s report. Melinda also noticed her notepad on the kitchen counter was open to a page. On the page, John had written a note containing their bank account number and their safe combination. Nothing was missing from the family’s safe. She actually noticed that there was more money in the safe than what she could remember.
The week before, Melinda recounted how John had been upset about how he was being treated at work, and he felt as though Dillard’s was trying to place blame on him saying that he was making unethical choices. They had blamed John for overcharging Dillard’s accounts. John told Melinda that he had begun recording phone calls at work to protect himself.
The afternoon of his disappearance, John’s family called a friend to have him track John’s cell phone. The phone had connected to a cell phone tower located in Little Rock at 5:15 a.m. that morning.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The last ping on John’s cell phone was located miles away from Little Rock near Petit Jean State Park. Roger (John’s brother) and his friend started driving around Petit Jean State Park, a 3,000+ acre state park located in Conway County, Arkansas, searching for any evidence that John had been there. Not long after beginning their search, they receive a call from an employee at Mather Lodge, a park facility located in Petit Jean State Park. The employee had found John’s vehicle, a dark gray Volvo SUV, parked near the lodge. The vehicle was unlocked, and all of his belongings were found in the vehicle, including his cell phone, company laptop, keys, credit card, and gas card. The family remembered how this had struck them as odd. All of his belongings were placed together, almost like John was saying that he was done with this job.
The Petit Jean State Park rescue team and family begin a 5-day search for John. The police confiscate John’s car from the parking lot of the Mather Lodge and comb the vehicle for fingerprints and evidence. Nothing out of the ordinary is found.
On day two of the search, a grid search of the park begins. On day three, the canines are brought in. The dogs are led from the car to Cedar Trail, but the scent quickly faded behind the lodge.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The rescue team calls off the search for John Glasgow. Investigators shift their focus to the vehicle and the surrounding area. The authorities begin questioning employees of the businesses surrounding the Petit Jean State Park area, and they look through hours of traffic camera footage to see if they can spot John’s vehicle on the way to the park. John’s vehicle was never seen on any traffic footage which would indicate that John took the longer route to the park, which was through a more rural area.
Forensic investigators went through CDI’s financial statements that John was responsible for and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The forensic investigators even comment on how well everything was kept up. John’s personal finances were all in order as well, and according to his wife Melinda, their vehicles were paid for and he had no reason to stress about money.
Many sightings are reported of John across the state of Arkansas. The family had placed missing person flyers every place that they possibly could.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
It is exactly one month since John’s disappearance. Dillard’s Inc. breaks their silence on their relationship with CDI, clearing John of any wrongdoing. John’s family still believes that his relationship to his workplace has something to do with his disappearance. A month later, Dillard’s admits to overstating their profits.
But did this have anything to do with John’s disappearance?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Melinda Glasgow, John’s wife, asks to legally declare her husband dead.
4 years later…
On Wednesday, March 11, 2015, seven years after his disappearance, hikers come across a piece of a human skull while hiking near Red Bluff Drive, an area near Petit Jean Mountain. The following day, Arkansas State Park officials would confirm this as the partial remains of John Glasgow. During this report, the case was not classified as a criminal investigation. A few days later, the clothed remains of John were discovered. On him were his wallet, driver’s license and credit card confirming his identity. His body was found on a rock shelf only 200 yards south from where the skull was found. According to state officials, the skull did not have any initial trauma.
Was it foul play?
To this day, the John Glasgow case has gone cold. John Glasgow’s family still believes that someone is responsible for John’s death. John’s brother Roger, who was a big part in the search for his brother, strongly believes foul play is the answer for John’s disappearance. His family are still on the search for answers.
