ByBRIAN DAKSSCBS/APApril 5, 2007, 10:53 AM
Mystery Of Missing Milwaukee Banker
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Banking executive Keith Gores was so devoted to his work, he always arrived ahead of time for meetings.

"He taught me right away there's only one way to attend a meeting and that's five minutes early," said George Mort, Gores' colleague for 27 years at a downtown bank. "This was a guy who was very punctual."

That's why colleagues and friends knew immediately that something was wrong when Gores failed to show up for a morning meeting March 22. He had never missed a meeting in more than three decades of banking.

Two weeks later, authorities are struggling to find leads in the case, and Gores' wife refuses to give up hope that her 56-year-old husband is alive. Sara Gores is convinced he may have become lost after suffering confusion or amnesia that developed after he slipped and struck his head.

On the morning of his disappearance, Keith Gores suffered blurred vision and lounged on the couch, apparently thinking it was Saturday.

After his wife reminded him it was Thursday, he hastily dressed and left their suburban home for his job as a vice president at Marshall & Ilsley Bank. He never arrived.

"That was the first sign I had seen" of anything amiss with Keith, Sara told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen on Thursday. "Other friends and family members and co-workers, we all had kind of pieces of where Keith wasn't acting normally.

"He was under a lot of stress from work. Several people had left at the same time. But he was — one other sign he wasn't himself is that, the day before he went missing, he was seen pacing in the lobby of the bank for over an hour, and that's not my husband. My husband is a go-getter, he's the Energizer Bunny, he's always going, going, going. So, that's very unusual."

Several people reported seeing Gores in a confused state later that day.

One person at a hotel near the bank told investigators Gores requested directions to an athletic club where he had been a member for some 20 years — even though he was only three blocks away.

A former co-worker also greeted Gores that morning, but Gores looked as though he did not recognize his friend, Gores' wife said.

Police said another witness reported seeing someone matching Gores' description walking along a bike path on the same day near a marina where Gores' car was later found. But there were no reported sightings after that.

Sara Gores, 40, blames her husband's disappearance on a head injury he suffered Feb. 23 after slipping on ice while walking the couple's dog.

Her husband told her he saw stars when his head hit the pavement, and he did not remember whether he lost consciousness. He never sought medical attention because he believed he had only a minor cut.

Now she thinks the blow may have caused bleeding in her husband's brain that gradually led to severe disorientation and, perhaps, amnesia.

Her theory is plausible, said Erik S. Lande, a neuropsychologist in private practice in Oxnard, Calif. Even if there were no initial symptoms of impairment, gradual bleeding could create serious problems.

"If there is a bleed, it could stop by itself. But if it's bringing about that level of confusion and disorientation, it's just as likely to keep bleeding until it becomes life-threatening," Lande said. "There's still room for optimism, but after this much time, only to a lesser extent."

Authorities say they have no reason to believe a crime was committed.

"By no means is anyone giving up hope. It's too early for that," said Brian Kaebisch, police chief in suburban St. Francis. "But we're at a point where we're following up on every bit of information that's coming in."

There has been no activity on Gores' credit cards, and he was not carrying a cell phone when he vanished, Kaebisch said.

Officers found his car within hours, parked and locked at the McKinley Marina, where the Gores spent nearly every summer day. The Gores own a boat, but it is still locked in storage.

The Coast Guard surveyed the waters, and investigators performed at least four extensive searches of surrounding areas but found nothing.

Search dogs picked up Gores' scent near the marina, which ruled out speculation the car might have been stolen and left by a thief, police Capt. Tom Dietrich said.

Gores, who was wearing a blue suit with his initials inside the coat, is not a strong swimmer, his wife said.

The bank where Gores worked has taken out ads in newspapers in Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay and Chicago, as well as Denver, where the couple has a second home. The ads include Keith's photo and a plea to call police with information.

Sara Gores acknowledged that hope is fading with each passing day.

"I'm a little frustrated," she said. "You try to have patience, but it's really, really hard."

Still, she asked put out a plea to the public during her talk with Chen, saying, "People could just look around. He was wearing a blue suit, a white shirt with a red tie. He may not have his suit coat on any longer. But my husband doesn't have a lot of hair. And he's probably looking a little scruffier than the pictures. I just would ask that, if you see someone that doesn't look right that something — it looks unusual, you know, please just take the time to look and just see if it's him. And, you know, I just beg of people to do that."

The St. Francis, Wis., Police can be contacted at (414) 481 2232. Or call your local police department.
© 2007 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mystery-of-missing-milwaukee-banker/

Banker could have amnesia, police say
By LAWRENCE SUSSMAN March 26, 2007
An M&I Bank executive missing since Thursday suffered a head injury several weeks ago, and police think the injury might have affected his memory, St. Francis police Lt. Jeff Varga said Sunday.

The injury, sustained when he slipped on ice near his home, "just grew into a large lump on the back of his head," Varga said of Keith Gores, 56. "He refused to have it treated, and the family thinks it may have possibly caused the problems."

Varga said Gores might be suffering from amnesia. Family members said Gores "normally is very meticulous and focused," Varga said.

A Milwaukee Police Department dive team searched the area Sunday near where Gores docks his boat at McKinley Marina. Dogs also searched the area near the lake, but "we found nothing," Varga said.

Gores' car, a dark blue Audi, was found at McKinley Marina.

After Gores' picture was publicized, Varga said several witnesses contacted St. Francis police and said they remember seeing a man dressed in a suit on the field and possibly on the breakwater near Juneau Park on Thursday morning.

"They remember him standing there because he was dressed in a suit, and they thought it was a little unusual," Varga said. "But there's been no contact and no more sightings of him since Thursday morning."

Police are "kind of at a dead end for leads now," Varga said. "Our focus was at the lake."

Anyone with information about Gores' whereabouts is asked to call the St. Francis Police Department at (414) 481-2232.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29451309.html


Jim Stingl | In My Opinion
Anguished family now has answer
July 6, 200
The painful uncertainty over what happened to Keith Gores is over, but hopes of a happier outcome have flickered out, as well.

Lake Michigan finally gave up the body of the 56-year-old St. Francis man, who disappeared on March 22 after failing to show up for work at M&I Bank.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office left no doubt Thursday that the remains found Wednesday evening in the water along South Shore Park were those of Gores. They relied on an autopsy and dental records.

St. Francis police said there are no early indications of foul play, although more toxicology testing will be done to determine the exact cause of death.

A memorial service is planned for Tuesday.

"It's a double-edged sword," Sara Gores said Thursday as she struggled with the news of her husband's death. Fumbling for the right word, I had asked her if there was relief on this difficult day.

"I now have an answer, versus some people who never get an answer. Yet now it's real, and I know I have to face the fact that he really is never coming home," she said.

From the beginning, she said she truly believed that Keith was alive and wandering in a daze as a result of a head injury he received in a fall on an icy walkway a few weeks before he disappeared. He showed signs of confusion after that, but did not seek medical attention.

On the day he went missing, his car was found parked and locked at the McKinley Marina, where he kept his sailboat. The body was found about five miles south of there.

As weeks turned to months, hope slipped away. Sara began to fear Keith would be found dead in some remote area where no one had looked before.

"I just didn't expect him to be in the lake all this time. All the time that went by and all the searching that was done, and nothing was found. To me it just didn't seem possible," she said.

Steve Gores, Keith's younger brother, just happened to be visiting Milwaukee with his family this week. He's a schoolteacher living in La Crosse.

They went to Summerfest on Wednesday and also stopped at McKinley Marina. While there, his 13-year-old daughter, Michaela, said a prayer to St. Anthony about her uncle.

"Wherever he is, can you help find him?" she prayed aloud. Fifteen minutes later, the body was discovered, which Steve and his family learned from a TV news broadcast at their hotel in Brookfield.

Steve immediately called St. Francis police and the medical examiner. He learned the body was clad in a white dress shirt, black pants and a black belt, and that it fit Keith's build.

The missing man's story captivated this city, although talk about what might have happened to Gores faded as spring turned to summer. There were possible sightings, but nothing solid. A search for six victims of a plane crash in the lake near the marina last month renewed questions about Gores' whereabouts.

Some people wondered if he had committed suicide or perhaps just took off for a life somewhere else. Sara rejected both possibilities. She focused on keeping media attention on the story and circulating a lost-person flier with Keith's photo on it, along with a time-lapse sketch of how he might look in a scruffy beard. The case stayed alive on a Web site and even got some national TV exposure.

Always Sara seemed so strong, so calm.

"I fell apart in private. I didn't fall apart in public just because I didn't think it would serve any good. I had to keep on my message and keep trying until I knew for sure," she said.

As recently as Thursday, the answering machine message at the couple's home revealed her spirit of optimism: "Hello, you've reached Keith and Sara . . . "

She thanked the community and the police in St. Francis and Milwaukee for their help and support. People she had never met stepped forward to join the search, which buoyed her spirits.

Sara and Keith Gores met at M&I Bank when they both worked there. They wed in 1996, the first marriage for both, and had no children.

They sold their home in Brookfield and last year bought a condo overlooking Lake Michigan in St. Francis. They were building a home in the mountains near Vail, Colo., where they loved to ski, and planned to buy a condo in the Caribbean.

Gores was a marathon runner. He also enjoyed the opera and served on the Florentine Opera Company board.

"He was low-key but a very influential business man," said Wayne Lueders, a lawyer who served on the board with him and later joined in the search for his missing friend.

In his 33 years at the bank, Gores rose to be a senior vice president, overseeing investment trading. M&I issued a statement on Thursday:

"We were deeply saddened to hear today's news about our friend and colleague, Keith Gores, and we would like to thank the community for their determined efforts to locate him during the past few months. While the outcome is not what we had hoped for, the fact that Keith has been found will bring a level of closure to Keith's family and friends. Keith will be greatly missed by all of us at M&I. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Sara, and the rest of Keith's family."

Visitation will begin at 3 p.m. Tuesday followed by a memorial service at 8 p.m. at the Krause Funeral Home, 12401 W. National Ave.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or e-mail at jstingl@journalsentinel.com
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29364274.html
 

Body of Missing Wisconsin Banker Found in Lake Michigan
Published July 05, 2007

A body found in Lake Michigan was identified Thursday as that of missing bank executive Keith Gores.

The 56-year-old disappeared March 22 after leaving his home in suburban St. Francis for Marshall & Ilsley Bank  Bank in downtown Milwaukee. His wife and friends said they knew immediately that something was wrong when the punctual Gores failed to show up for a morning meeting.

St. Francis Police said in a news release there were no early signs of foul play.

Gores' wife, Sara, has said that he hit his head before he disappeared and she feared he suffered from amnesia. She did not immediately return a call Thursday.

Marshall & Ilsley Corp. issued a statement thanking the community for looking for Gores. Dozens of bright yellow flyers bearing his picture were hung throughout the area during the multi-month search.

"While the outcome is not what we had hoped for, the fact that Keith has been found will bring a level of closure to Keith's family and friends," the company's statement said.

The Milwaukee Medical Examiner's Office used dental records to identify the decomposed body found Wednesday at South Shore Park, St. Francis police said. They said they are waiting for toxicology tests to determine a cause of death.

Hours after Gores disappeared, police found his blue Audi parked and locked at McKinley Marina, on the northern side of the lake. The Gores spent nearly every summer day there, but their boat was locked in storage when Keith Gores disappeared, his wife said.

Dogs picked up Gores' scent in the area, but an extensive search turned up nothing.

Sara Gores, 40, said her husband slipped on ice Feb. 23 while walking the couple's dog. He never sought medical attention because he believed he had only a minor cut.

But the morning Gores disappeared, he complained of blurred vision and lounged on the couch, apparently thinking it was the weekend. Sara Gores said she told him it was a weekday and he rushed off to the bank, where he was a vice president. http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/07/05/body-missing-wisconsin-banker-found-in-lake-michigan/

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bank Executive Goes Missing
Jenn Rourke and Lauren Leamanczyk
ST. FRANCIS - The St. Francis Police Department and Milwaukee Police Department are working on a critical missing person's case of a 56-year-old bank executive.

Keith Gores, 56, of St. Francis left for work Thursday around 7 a.m., according to his wife. He never showed up at M & I Bank in Milwaukee.

The Milwaukee Police Department said the bank contacted his wife to see if everything was OK. She said he left for work and that's when police were notified.

Gores' car was found at the McKinley Marina around 2 Thursday afternoon. Police say he has a boat, but that it is in storage.

The Coast Guard did a search of the marina area, including the water, and found nothing. Police say family members indicated he has been despondent lately.

Gores is the president of the Florentine Opera Board. He and his wife, Sara, recently moved from Brookfield to their current home in a new condo development.

Rick Kirschman is a close friend of Gores'. He tells TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Lauren Leamanczyk his friend is highly regimented and wouldn't leave without telling others. "Very organized and structured and this is a shock to us," he said.

He also said Keith Gores' wife told him that the executive had been disoriented when he left for work Thursday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call the St. Francis Police Department at (414) 481-2232.
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/6648747.html

Banking executive Keith Gores was so devoted to his work, he always arrived ahead of time for meetings.

"He taught me right away there's only one way to attend a meeting and that's five minutes early," said George Mort, Gores' colleague for 27 years at a downtown bank. "This was a guy who was very punctual."

That's why colleagues and friends knew immediately that something was wrong when Gores failed to show up for a morning meeting March 22. He had never missed a meeting in more than three decades of banking.

Two weeks later, authorities are struggling to find leads in the case, and Gores' wife refuses to give up hope that her 56-year-old husband is alive. Sara Gores is convinced he may have become lost after suffering confusion or amnesia that developed after he slipped and struck his head.

On the morning of his disappearance, Keith Gores suffered blurred vision and lounged on the couch, apparently thinking it was Saturday.

After his wife reminded him it was Thursday, he hastily dressed and left their suburban home for his job as a vice president at Marshall & Ilsley Bank. He never arrived.

"That was the first sign I had seen" of anything amiss with Keith, Sara told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen on Thursday. "Other friends and family members and co-workers, we all had kind of pieces of where Keith wasn't acting normally.

"He was under a lot of stress from work. Several people had left at the same time. But he was — one other sign he wasn't himself is that, the day before he went missing, he was seen pacing in the lobby of the bank for over an hour, and that's not my husband. My husband is a go-getter, he's the Energizer Bunny, he's always going, going, going. So, that's very unusual."

Several people reported seeing Gores in a confused state later that day.

One person at a hotel near the bank told investigators Gores requested directions to an athletic club where he had been a member for some 20 years — even though he was only three blocks away.

A former co-worker also greeted Gores that morning, but Gores looked as though he did not recognize his friend, Gores' wife said.

Police said another witness reported seeing someone matching Gores' description walking along a bike path on the same day near a marina where Gores' car was later found. But there were no reported sightings after that.

Sara Gores, 40, blames her husband's disappearance on a head injury he suffered Feb. 23 after slipping on ice while walking the couple's dog.

Her husband told her he saw stars when his head hit the pavement, and he did not remember whether he lost consciousness. He never sought medical attention because he believed he had only a minor cut.

Now she thinks the blow may have caused bleeding in her husband's brain that gradually led to severe disorientation and, perhaps, amnesia.

Her theory is plausible, said Erik S. Lande, a neuropsychologist in private practice in Oxnard, Calif. Even if there were no initial symptoms of impairment, gradual bleeding could create serious problems.

"If there is a bleed, it could stop by itself. But if it's bringing about that level of confusion and disorientation, it's just as likely to keep bleeding until it becomes life-threatening," Lande said. "There's still room for optimism, but after this much time, only to a lesser extent."

Authorities say they have no reason to believe a crime was committed.

"By no means is anyone giving up hope. It's too early for that," said Brian Kaebisch, police chief in suburban St. Francis. "But we're at a point where we're following up on every bit of information that's coming in."

There has been no activity on Gores' credit cards, and he was not carrying a cell phone when he vanished, Kaebisch said.

Officers found his car within hours, parked and locked at the McKinley Marina, where the Gores spent nearly every summer day. The Gores own a boat, but it is still locked in storage.

The Coast Guard surveyed the waters, and investigators performed at least four extensive searches of surrounding areas but found nothing.

Search dogs picked up Gores' scent near the marina, which ruled out speculation the car might have been stolen and left by a thief, police Capt. Tom Dietrich said.

Gores, who was wearing a blue suit with his initials inside the coat, is not a strong swimmer, his wife said.

The bank where Gores worked has taken out ads in newspapers in Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay and Chicago, as well as Denver, where the couple has a second home. The ads include Keith's photo and a plea to call police with information.

Sara Gores acknowledged that hope is fading with each passing day.

"I'm a little frustrated," she said. "You try to have patience, but it's really, really hard."

Still, she asked put out a plea to the public during her talk with Chen, saying, "People could just look around. He was wearing a blue suit, a white shirt with a red tie. He may not have his suit coat on any longer. But my husband doesn't have a lot of hair. And he's probably looking a little scruffier than the pictures. I just would ask that, if you see someone that doesn't look right that something — it looks unusual, you know, please just take the time to look and just see if it's him. And, you know, I just beg of people to do that."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mystery-of-missing-milwaukee-banker/

April 3, 2007 — Nearly everyone who knows Keith Gores is baffled. They say he's smart, successful, driven and a devoted husband. At 56, he is head of an investment bank and still runs marathons.
But the Wisconsin man has been missing for nearly two weeks.
"People with his personality and his character traits just don't disappear," said his wife, Sara Gores.
Sara said that the last time she saw her husband, he was late for work and seemed confused.
"He thought it was Saturday and it was Thursday," she said. "And he said, 'Are you sure it's Thursday?' I said, 'Yeah, I'm positive it's Thursday.'"
Keith never made it to work that day. Police say he was seen asking for directions to the health club he'd been a member of for 20 years.
He failed to recognize a friend in the gym parking lot, and was last spotted at a local marina, where investigators found his car.
Police say they don't suspect any foul play.
"There's no indication of any kind of criminal involvement at this time," said Brian Kaebisch, chief of the St. Francis Police Department in Wisconsin.

Under Pressure at Work


One possible theory is that Keith suffered a head injury weeks earlier, when he fell while walking his dog.
Friend Bill Florescu saw him the next day.
"I could tell he had banged himself up," Florescu said.
Keith was also under tremendous pressure at work. Days after he hit his head, seven of his employees at a Milwaukee bank quit to form a rival company.
"He was very stressed out, more than I've seen him," Sara said.
And his behavior seemed to grow more and more bizarre. The day before he disappeared, surveillance cameras outside the bank captured him pacing in the lobby for an hour.
Sara believes her husband may have a form of amnesia, a rare but real condition doctors call dissociative fugue.
"If this is a dissociative fugue state, then stress is probably the cause at some level," said Orrin Devinsky, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at New York University.


Sara has put up billboards and posters, and police have checked the Goreses' bank accounts, phone bills and e-mails but have found few leads.


Sara is still holding on to hope.

"I want him home. I miss him a lot," she said. "He just wouldn't have done this to me and I know when we find him he's going to hate all the tears he's caused me. I know he is."

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?48472-WI-Keith-Gore-56-St-Francis-2007