In the quiet, rural landscape of Grand County, Colorado, the story of Keith Robert Anderson, a 22-year-old white male, came to an abrupt and unsettling end on February 5, 1984. Anderson was last seen at a horse barn in Hot Sulphur Springs where he boarded his horse. What happened that day remains a mystery, but the discovery of his idling truck near the barn with his German Shepherd waiting in the back signaled that something was gravely wrong.
He was never heard from again.
The initial investigation by the Grand County Sheriff's Office uncovered disturbing evidence at the scene. Traces of Anderson's blood were found in the barn, a grim indicator of a violent encounter. The unsettling feeling in the community deepened when witnesses came forward, reporting they had heard several gunshots in the area around the time of his disappearance. The case was officially classified as a homicide, even though Anderson's body was never found.
Suspicion soon fell on David Russell Buttel, who became the prime suspect in Anderson's disappearance and presumed murder. The motive appeared to be a love triangle; a woman who had been involved with Buttel had recently left him and moved in with Anderson. Buttel, who also boarded horses at the same barn, admitted to being there on the day Anderson vanished. He offered a dubious explanation, claiming Anderson had simply gotten a bloody nose before walking off. A witness, however, reported seeing something wrapped in blankets in the back of Buttel's truck near Anderson's ranch.
Further implicating Buttel was the disappearance of a. 44 caliber magnum handgun belonging to the barn's owner, which he had kept under the seat of his truck. The day after Anderson went missing, the owner reported the gun stolen. Adding to the bizarre series of events, Anderson's horse died two days after his disappearance, and a. 44 caliber bullet was found in its body. Four months later, the missing handgun was discovered on Ute Pass, but the barrel was too rusted to definitively match it to the bullet that killed the horse. Buttel refused to take a lie detector test and shortly after, he vanished from the area. Despite the strong circumstantial evidence pointing to his involvement, no arrests have ever been made in the case of Keith Robert Anderson. His whereabouts, and the full story of what transpired that winter day, remain unknown.
