Koentopp Family Hires Detective In Search For Missing Woman

The Larry Koentopp family has hired a private detective to assist in the search for Koentopp’s 42-year-old wife, Espie, Metro police said Wednesday.

Mrs. Koentopp was reported missing by her husband - the former owner of the Spokane Indians baseball club - last week.

Police recovered Mrs. Koentopp’s Toyota Camry at a parking area in the rugged Red Rock recreational area a week ago Sunday.

Koentopp, former athletic director and baseball coach at Gonzaga University, told police he returned home from a trip on Saturday, Aug. 17. He found a note indicating that his wife had gone hiking.

Abduction is one angle of the investigation.

“We have no new leads,” said Lt. Brad Simpson of the Las Vegas police department. “We’re still looking at it from both angles, as being a voluntary missing person and that there’s possibly foul play involved, but we have nothing specific yet to go on.”

A family hiring a private detective is not unusual in missing persons cases, a police spokesman added.

Espie Koentopp is Koentopp’s third wife.

Koentopp headed a group of local investors who bought the Indians for $259,000. He eventually moved the team to Las Vegas in 1982 and sold the franchise in ‘93 for $6.1 million.