http://www.daily-times.com/ci_11763717
Sanostee man's whereabouts remain a mystery after eight monthsBy Alysa Landry The Daily Times
Posted: 02/23/2009 12:00:00 AM MST
SANOSTEE - The signs of busy yesterdays still permeate the interior of Wilson Happy's empty Sanostee home.
Flannel shirts hang lifeless in the bedroom closet and dishes are stacked near the sink - evidence that the house not so long ago was a home. Faint odors of dirt, sweat and food still linger.
But the two-bedroom house also serves as a piercing reminder that Happy is not there. The pages of a wall calender haven't been turned for months, and a clock permanently is stopped at 5:25.
Happy, 68, disappeared eight months ago from the small Navajo community, and his continued absence has raised more questions than answers.
"We search and we search and we search," said Della Silversmith, Happy's sister. "We haven't found him yet. It's really hard on us, not knowing what happened."
Missing person
Happy was reported missing last June after withdrawing a stack of cash from a Farmington bank.
Security cameras place Happy in Farmington on June 4, where he withdrew about $2,000 in Social Security funds. Happy entered the Citizens Bank branch inside Smith's Food & Drug on 20th Street shortly after 2 p.m. to make the withdrawal. Eight minutes later, he exited the grocery store. Security video shows him in the parking lot outside, where he sat in a parked car for six minutes.
"In all the videos, he's looking over his shoulder," said Happy's niece, Lynn Lewis. "He was nervous about something."
The video is the last piece of concrete evidence available.
But other witnesses reported seeing Happy at the store in Littlewater, near U.S. 491 south of Shiprock, two days later, Lewis said. No one has heard from him since.
"He never went anywhere," Lewis said of Happy. "He didn't have a car, and he lived by himself."
According to family accounts, Happy's sister, Mary Lou Harvey, dropped the man off at the Littlewater store on June 4. From there, Happy likely hitchhiked to Farmington.
"He put in gas for me (in Littlewater)," Harvey said. "From there I've seen him walking toward Shiprock. That was the last time I've seen him."
Happy got a monthly Social Security check, Lewis said, and he habitually spent most of it on alcohol.
The family spent most of the summer retracing Happy's steps from Sanostee to Shiprock, where drivers sometimes collect change from people near City Market and buy them alcohol off the reservation.
"Most of the time, especially during the first of the month, he drinks and drinks," Harvey said of her brother. "This could go on for two to three weeks (until) he's out of money."
The family believes someone may have hurt Happy, thinking the man would not be missed, Lewis said.
"The guy drank, but he's still a human being," she said. "We may accept the fact that he's probably not alive, but he still deserves a burial."
No answers
Della Silversmith's sobs echoed in the morning air Thursday outside her brother's empty home. More than eight months had ticked by since the last time she saw Happy, but Silversmith, of Oaksprings, Ariz., is holding on to the possibility that he is alive.
"We really miss our brother," she said through her tears. "We don't know where he is, but we want him back now."
The family drives to the home, located about 10 miles from U.S. 491, on a road that transforms gradually from asphalt to gravel to dirt, about once a week. Electricity wires hummed overhead Thursday as Silversmith walked across the familiar one-acre lot nestled in the shadow of a jutting rock formation, her shoes leaving deep prints in the soft earth and lingering snowdrifts.
Family members also have walked the 25 miles from Sanostee to Shiprock, along the shoulder of U.S. 491, looking for clues, evidence, anything to lead them to Happy.
The man was reported missing last June after he withdrew a large amount of money.
"We believe he was hurt because of that," she said. "Someone out there knows where he is."
But answers are sparse, Lewis said. The family petitioned the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and the FBI for help, but encountered a shortage of staff on the Nation and a jurisdictional quagmire — Happy lived on the Nation, but was last seen in Farmington.
The FBI is not investigating, FBI Supervisory Senior Agent Robert Gaskamp said.
"Absent any evidence of foul play, a missing persons report would be solely investigated by the Navajo Division of Public Safety," he said. "The FBI is not actively assisting with the Wilson Happy missing persons case. We've had several unidentified human remains found out there, and we periodically will help the tribe with DNA analysis and helping to identify human remains that are found, but we are not actively assisting with this case."
The FBI generally assists the Nation, on request, if a crime is suspicious, Gaskamp said.
"If there is evidence of a homicide, the FBI would immediately instigate an investigation in conjunction with the Navajo Nation Division of Criminal Investigation."
The family argues evidence of a homicide does exist, including dried splatters of what it believes to be blood on the curtains, walls and ceiling in Happy's home.
Investigations by the Navajo police revealed nothing, although the case still is open, said Shiprock Criminal Investigations Supervisor Douglas Joe.
Steve Nelson, chief of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, said an investigation is unlikely to turn up anything.
"It all depends on the information we have," he said. "It depends on the evidence, the clues. If there's nothing, it's hard for us to continue the investigation. We try to run down every lead, we try to follow up, but when you have absolutely nothing, it's very difficult."
Nelson said he did not have specific information on the Happy case.
The man
Rita Castillo sees her uncle everywhere.
Castillo, of Lupton, said she has sighted Happy in crowded rooms, on the side of the highway, even in newspaper photographs.
The imaginary sightings are the effect of eight months of looking for the man.
"I saw him in a newspaper photo," Castillo said. "It's blurry, but it looks like him. I'm going to check up on that next."
Happy, who wore his gray hair in a long ponytail, grew up mainly on the Navajo Nation. He attended boarding school in Utah, graduating from Intermountain Indian High School before taking a job with Union Pacific Railroad. He retired about 20 years ago and lived alone in the small Sanostee home.
His family describes him as soft spoken but courageous.
"My brother Wilson is a survivor," Harvey said. "He can survive anything. Like in the old days, he would run out of food now and then."
Happy flirted with alcohol, eventually succumbing to the lifestyle. He spent his entire check on alcohol every month, Harvey said, forcing him to turn to his family for food, coal and wood.
The family has searched the surrounding area since Happy's disappearance, scouring the desert landscape near Sanostee, all the way to the base of the Chuska Mountains. The family also has looked as far north as Cortez, Colo., and as far south as Albuquerque.
"Every chance we get, we comb areas we haven't looked," Castillo said. "If we could find a shoe or a piece of clothing or anything, we'd know we were on the right track."
Every search ends back at the house, where Happy had wanted to spend the last years of his life, Castillo said. Uneven wood poles strung together with barbed wire surround the house and a couple of sheds. The house is located in a tight neighborhood, with homes and hogans within a stone's throw and a steady stream of traffic passing on the gravel road.
"Every time we come out here, we hope he's here," Castillo said. "Every time he went somewhere, he stayed on the road or the highway. Someone has to know where he is. If he's gone, what can we do? At least we'll know, put our minds at ease."
You can help
A $1,500 reward is being offered for information leading to Wilson Happy, including $500 from the family. Call San Juan County Crimestoppers at (505) 334-TIPS.
