‘Scared’ and ‘desperate’ Kennewick father missing in Mexico. His family is still looking

It’s been just over three years since a Kennewick father made a series of desperate calls to his family and then vanished.

Ian Gooldy went missing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Nov. 29, 2020. Now his sister, Ann Wright, is hoping for any information that could lead finding to him.

“We’re not interested in pressing charges or having a big court battle,” Wright told the Tri-City Herald recently. “We just want some answers. ... Our last communication with him was three years ago today. He was alone. He was scared and he was desperate.”

Gooldy went to Mexico shortly before Thanksgiving with a college friend who promised him a short-term job where he would train a team to sell items over the phone.

When his family heard about his plans to take a job in Mexico, they were concerned, but he assured them it would be a quick visit, a few weeks of a trial period, and if he didn’t like the job, he could return.

At first, all seemed well but events turned dark after someone broke into his apartment and his wallet and passport were stolen.

Gooldy planned to visit a man who was supposed to help him get back the items. The last time he spoke to his family, he was on his way to the meeting.

Since his disappearance, family members have struggled to get answers from officials. They’ve made dozens of phone calls, hired an attorney and visited the Puerto Vallarta area.

Three years later and Wright says they’re no closer to knowing what happened.

“We feel like we’re up against a wall and hitting dead ends,” Wright said. “Nobody wants to talk to us. They don’t want to deal with it.”

Vanished in Mexico

While Gooldy had some personal struggles, he also was a successful salesman, who worked in California and Seattle before returning to Kennewick.

It seemed that the change in scenery was good for Gooldy, who was now closer to his child. When he found the job in Mexico, he was positive about the change.

And at first, it appeared to be a good move. Gooldy arrived in Puerto Vallarta shortly before Thanksgiving 2020, he shared photos of beautiful scenery.

Then in the days around Nov. 29, 2020, Gooldy’s father, Jim Gooldy began getting a series of increasingly concerning phone calls.

Ian Gooldy called his dad to say someone broke into his apartment and took everything. This included any proof that he was an American citizen.

“Half of me says, ‘I want to make this work, but the other half says, I should come home, but I don’t want to come home with absolutely nothing,’” he told his dad.

The Kennewick man had a plan to get his ID back. He was working with a “finder,” who had tracked down the stolen items. He sounded nervous when he shared the plan with his father.

On that phone call, he gave his father a “safe word” because he worried he was going into a dangerous situation.

“My dad told him not to do it,” Wright told the Tri-City Herald in 2021. “Whatever you’ve got in those suitcases is not worth it. You’ll get new clothes. We’ll go to the consulate and get new documentation, and he insisted. He said, ‘I have to go.’”

Jim Gooldy transferred his son $250, in case it was a shakedown. The money was withdrawn from an ATM in Mexico.

Ian told his dad that he planned to return to the United States as soon as he got his items back.

A half-hour later, his father called him.

Ian Gooldy said he was in a park-like area where two rivers come together. As part of the conversation, Ian used the safe word — Columbia.

“I said, ‘OK son. I hope everything is all right,’” Jim Gooldy said, and his son replied, “I love you, Dad. And that was our last call. When I called the next time, there was no answer.”

About 10 minutes later, Jim Gooldy received a text message from his son’s phone with a “thumbs up” emoji, which was something that Ian never did.

Soon after, he received a map pinpointing where the phone was located. He and Ian’s sister kept calling the phone every half hour until a Spanish-speaking stranger answered. Jim Gooldy thought he dialed a wrong number and hung up.

After sending a text in Spanish using Google translate, they learned Ian’s phone was found on a trail by a stream.

That was the last clue they got that night.

Continued search

There has been no sign of Ian Gooldy since those phone calls. When Wright and Jim Gooldy spoke with the Herald eight months after he vanished, the search had been marked with long waits, scant information, and seemingly little help from authorities.

Officials tried telling them that no one disappears from Puerto Vallarta unless they wanted to. The U.S. Consulate employee said Ian likely just went off the grid.

But before that, he frequently spoke with family members and he left behind a young son, so family members don’t believe he willingly disappeared.

They soon learned that to work with the police, they first needed to hire a Mexican attorney. Even after they found one to help, it took several more days before the police report was filed.

They weren’t able to get them to search for Ian’s cellphone, or get any more information about the investigation.

Since 2021, any official communication from police or their attorney has dried up. Now his family looks to Facebook groups where they share stories of bodies being found. Each time, they wonder if he will turn up.

But, so far, Ian Gooldy has not been found.

Wright gets frustrated when she is told that her brother likely wanted to disappear. She knows he wouldn’t leave behind his son.

“It’s been very difficult. We’re close as a family. My nephew is 10 and it breaks my heart that he’s going to go through his life not knowing what happened to his dad,” she said.

Gooldy’s family still has a Facebook group called “Searching for Ian” set up for people to send them information, but they haven’t received any messages recently.

“The hardest part is not knowing,” she said. “You’re always in a state of grief.”