Family to scour Tubbs Hill

Tyson Frazier was such a good worker at Glenn Vaughn Restoration Services in Post Falls a few years ago that his boss, Glenn Vaughn, can’t imagine him as a methamphetamine addict, down and out and suicidal.

“He was a good kid. I just loved having him around because he was so willing and such a hard worker,” Vaughn says. “I hope to hell he just ran away.”

Frazier, 21, has been missing since Sept. 7. He failed to return to the Kootenai County Jail from his work-release job. A warrant for his arrest was issued. After his car was found Sunday near Tubbs Hill with a suicide note inside, a search was launched.

Searchers came from the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, Search and Rescue, Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, and the Kootenai County Mounted Posse. The hill was wet and treacherous, particularly off the trails.

“We were up there until midnight the first night, slid a couple of times,” says Coeur d’Alene Police Lt. Don Jiran. “It’s 135 acres and we combed it.”

Two marine deputies checked the shoreline and a helicopter studied the hill from above. The hunt turned up nothing. Jiran says the official search is over unless more information surfaces. Meanwhile, Frazier’s family exists in an agonizing limbo with no answers.

“It’s hard to know what to think because we don’t know what happened,” says Mike Paul, who’s married to Tyson’s older sister, Mia.

So the family will search on their own until they find answers.

“The people who know him are sure he’s up there,” says Skip Frazier, Tyson’s dad.

Family and friends will gather in Coeur d’Alene City Hall’s lower parking lot at noon Sunday for a second search. Skip Frazier, a licensed professional counselor, is asking friends to help him scour Tubbs Hill for his son. Tyson Frazier’s behavior patterns for years lead his father to believe he was serious about suicide.

“He did another suicidal gesture a month ago, went to Tubbs Hill with a rope and put it around his neck. He came home crying,” Skip Frazier says in a monotone. “There’s a good chance he’s there.”

Until Tyson Frazier discovered meth in 2001, he was a focused kid with a quick wit.

But his meth addiction wore his family down. Skip Frazier pressed charges against his son several times after Tyson stole from him. Frazier hoped the legal system would force his son into treatment his family couldn’t convince him to seek.

It did last year. Tyson spent six months in rehabilitation in Cottonwood, Idaho, then stayed drug-free for nine months after he returned home.

“When he was straight, it was wonderful,” Skip Frazier says.

Six weeks ago, Tyson fell off the wagon. A couple of probation violations led to jail time and the work-release program. His failure to return to jail unnerved his family, but Skip calmed everyone.

“He’s an amazing man. I’m super glad he’s my father-in-law,” Mike says. “He’s stayed real super hopeful through the whole thing, even though everyone else gets frustrated.”

Skip stayed in the park during the search. He says he appreciates the searchers’ time and effort. But he disagrees with their conclusion that his son probably staged his disappearance to avoid going back to jail.

“Police don’t know Ty. He was on the downhill side of a binge,” Frazier says. “He was despondent, despairing. He didn’t have the mental capacity to put together a plan.”

Skip says Tyson also never disappeared from home before for more than three days, even when he knew his father would turn him in.”His only crime was stealing from me, but I got him busted,” Skip says. “Still, he always came home even though he knew I’d report him.”

That’s why Skip needs Tubbs Hill and the surrounding area searched again. He needs an answer, even if it’s one that will break his heart.

“We’ll have a little bit of peace if we don’t find any evidence,” Paul says. “That will make us think maybe he did run off.”