Sandra Meyer

The disappearance of a Bend woman followed by her husband’s death has left the couple’s friends and family with endless questions and few answers.

A call to 911 early Wednesday reported John Meyer, 71, had been found dead of a gunshot wound in his house, one week after he had reported the disappearance of his wife, 72-year-old Sandra Meyer. Capt. Jim Porter of the Bend Police Department said the Deschutes County coroner examined John Meyer’s body on Thursday, but is waiting to consult with the state medical examiner before issuing a statement on his death. A firearm found with John Meyer at his home in the Mountain High neighborhood in southwest Bend has been taken into evidence.

Law enforcement officers, family and volunteers have turned up no sign of Sandra Meyer despite extensive searching. Porter said the investigation continues to be centered around the Old Mill District, fanning out for about 8 square miles from the movie theater parking lot where Sandra Meyer’s vehicle was found around 11 a.m. March 10.

John Meyer had reported his wife missing shortly after 8 a.m. that morning, telling police she’d left the house to go to a meeting of her book club the night before and had not returned. Book club members told police Sandra Meyer did not make it to their meeting at a downtown Bend bar.

Next-door neighbors Teddie and Al Allison may be the last people to have seen John Meyer alive.

John Meyer had been feeling “really low” since his wife’s disappearance, Teddie Allison said, but accepted an invitation to join her and her husband for dinner Tuesday night. She said they spent about 2 1/2 hours together, watching “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” after they ate. John Meyer went home around 8:30 p.m., she said.

John Meyer’s first wife died of cancer after a 30-year marriage, Allison said, and she suspects he was overwhelmed by the possibility Sandra could be dead. Allison said the Meyers were a close couple, and she can’t imagine John Meyer had any part in his wife’s disappearance.

“I just think he got despondent. I just cannot fathom his hurting Sandy,” she said.

Porter said Thursday they’ve had only limited success uncovering leads that could point them toward Sandy Meyer.

Police have obtained surveillance video from some Old Mill District businesses, he said, but have not been able to view it all and have found no sign of Sandy on the videos they have viewed.

Possible witness

John Meyer is still believed to be the last person to have seen his wife, though one possible witness has come forward.

Porter said the witness claimed to have seen Sandy in the Old Mill District on the night she was supposed to have been with her book club, some time after she was reported to have left her home at 6:15 p.m. It’s not certain the woman the witness saw was Sandy, Porter said, adding the witness and Sandy had no previous acquaintance.

“Potentially it could have been her, but it was such a long distance away, they can’t be sure it was her,” he said. “It was a fleeting glimpse from a long distance.”

Capt. Marc Mills of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said Search and Rescue personnel decided against continuing their search in the Old Mill District on Thursday, as they have already covered every place they could safely search. Mills said Search and Rescue is prepared to resume the search if asked to do so by Bend Police.

“Right now, Bend PD is evaluating all the information they have taken in the last several days , and we will collaborate and decide if there’s any other locations that we need to concentrate on a search,” Mills said. “It’s very possible that we could be out somewhere in the community in the future based on that information.”

Family described as close

Dave Conde, 42, is Sandy’s son. He and his brother Chris Pries, 47, were raised in Palo Alto, Calif., where their mother worked as an executive assistant and event coordinator in the pharmaceutical industry.

John Meyer had three daughters from his first marriage, all of whom still live in California. He worked as an engineer and executive for a variety of high-tech companies in the Bay Area.

Both retired several years ago, Conde said. As a retiree, Sandy participated in her book club and volunteered for several area groups. She gave up skiing, Conde said, but remained active walking her dog Sam and working out at the Bend Athletic Club.

Jewell Elementary Principal Bruce Reynolds said she volunteered at the school as a reader for the Start Making A Reader Today (SMART) program for five years, and at Elk Meadow Elementary before that.

“She was a very special lady,” Reynolds said. “She’s a very dependable person and was always here for the kids she was mentoring and reading with. Just a spunky, bright spot of a woman.”

Susie Conte worked as the SMART coordinator at Jewell Elementary until this fall. She said Sandy was great to work with.

“She was 72 years young,” Conte said. “She loved being there with the kids and always came in with a smile on her face.”

Conte said Meyer often volunteered to substitute when other volunteers didn’t show up, to bring cookies or brownies, and to help decorate bulletin boards. And she was glad to take on the harder cases.

“She was ready to take on the kids with reading that needed someone who had a little higher energy level,” she said. “Over the years she’d have kids like that and stay right with them. She had that type of energy within her to just take them on and embrace them.”

Last year, Conte said, Sandy brought her husband along and he started volunteering with SMART as well, filling out his background check and then reading with children for the remainder of the year.

“She thought it would expand his horizons and that he would enjoy reading with the children,” Conte said. “She was so thrilled he was there and reading at the same time as she was. She was thrilled to have brought him on.”

Married 13 years

Sandy and John were set up by friends of his daughter and her son, and had been married about 13 years.

About a dozen years ago, Conde said, the pair decided they’d get out of the Bay Area and settled on Bend, in part for the golf and skiing.

John, Conde said, was an avid golfer and skier. He also loved current events and politics.

Conde described the family as tight-knit. The Meyers have six grandchildren, two by Sandy’s sons and four by John’s daughters.

“We probably didn’t spend as many family get-togethers and holidays as we would like to have over the years,” Conde said. “We were very close.”

Conde doesn’t think John would hurt his mother.

“John was just not the kind of guy to harm somebody this way,” Conde said. “He was a gentle giant of a guy.”

And he said the family is shocked by John’s sudden death.

“We are beside ourselves that things would have bothered him to this degree,” Conde said. “It is unexpected for his personality.”

For now, the family remains busy searching for Sandy. They continue to canvas neighborhoods door-to-door throughout Bend.

“There aren’t too many people who haven’t heard about this story, but nonetheless we want to talk to people in the areas where she might have (walked),” Conde said. “We’re also visually searching dead-end alleys and dry canals and anything else in the area to make sure she’s not huddled up there.”

Family and friends meet daily to work on various projects, like putting Conde’s mother on missing-persons websites.

“There are a number of people (who) we are just staggered by what they’re doing for us to help find her,” Conde said.