![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "Cher would not leave her dogs," he said in a phone interview from Panama. He saw three of her four dogs, including Jackie. Prosecutors in the area where Hughes disappeared never opened an official investigation, even though locals started to suspect foul play.įriend Joe Bonerigo, a 48-year-old expat, decided to swing by her place to take a look. "She was adventurous, but she'd never go for more than a few weeks without calling." Hughes' family and friends filed a missing person's report, tried to reach her on her cell phone and through her Facebook page.Įventually, they heard from Cortez, who claimed to be an investor and a Realtor.Ĭortez told the family Hughes had sold him all her property, then left Panama to go sailing. "We talked, texted, e-mailed, all the time. "She was going to show me all the sights," said Barber, 47, a loan processor who lives with her husband in St. An adventurous spirit, she later decided to move there.īarber planned to visit her sister's island home in Panama for the first time this summer. Hughes at one point took a trip to Panama with friends and fell in love with the country. The pair moved to Pinellas County 25 years ago, and Hughes opened a sign business in Gulfport. Hughes, known to most as Cher, was the oldest of five kids who grew up in St. The two women, both blond and blue-eyed, were close. Judy Barber last heard from her sister in March. "The dog would come out, bark at them and then go back into the woods."Įventually, authorities decided to follow the dog, which led them to a mound of dirt. movie," said Don Winner, who was hired by Hughes' family to help find her. Investigators have not said whether they believe Opdycke was involved."It was like something out of a. 22-caliber pistol over an embankment, authorities said. Oakes asked to go outside and then threw a plastic bag containing a. The dog is recovering.Ī sheriff’s deputy found Oakes and Opdycke at her home. At the house, his employees found Dingo, a Belgian malinois, bleeding profusely from gunshot wounds. The next morning, Stover’s fiancee reported him missing. The deputy noted dog hair on his sleeve and piles of blankets in the back. The neighbor reported that a man by the cars – Oakes, it turned out – had a large piece of plastic.Ī deputy later saw Oakes’ car and pulled him over. Two cars were parked out back – one was Stover’s, and the other belonged to Opdycke’s boyfriend, Michiel Oakes, authorities said. ![]() 28, a neighbor reported a trespassing at a Grange hall a half-mile from Stover’s house. She said he showed up at her home uninvited and a neighbor had caught him going through her garbage, for which he was arrested. In early 2008, Opdycke took out a restraining order against Stover, accusing him of harassment. When Opdycke filed for divorce, Stover refused to hire a lawyer, claiming he didn’t need to go through anyone else to deal with someone he loved. Clients included Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell moviemaker Cameron Crowe and his wife, singer Nancy Wilson of the ’70s group Heart and Costco CEO Jim Sinegal. The kennel offered massages, pedicures, a raw-meat diet and weight-loss programs. Opdycke’s father was a founder of Washington’s biggest winery, Chateau Ste. Stover, 57, and ex-wife Linda Opdycke, 45, opened Island Dog Adventures in the early 1990s on an island her wealthy family owned 55 miles north of Seattle. It’s a big loss for all of us dog people.” “Dogs that were uncontrollable would go to Mark and they could be controlled. “We never talked about that – just about the dogs,” said Anacortes police animal control officer Marie Padovan. Stover’s friends said they knew little about the breakup. Investigators have yet to find Stover’s body, but prosecutors have charged his ex-wife’s boyfriend with murder in a case that may have stemmed from their divorce two years ago. She was shot in the face, and when deputies arrived, the only signs of her master were smears of blood in a downstairs bedroom and hallway. He also trained his own dog, Dingo, for protection.īut when Stover’s killer came last month, there was nothing Dingo could do. He taught obedience to the pets of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. – Mark Stover was the Pacific Northwest’s dog trainer to the stars. ![]()
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