This Sunday I’m profiling Colleen Wood, selected by Kat. Colleen, who had bright blonde hair and looked younger than her 53 years, disappeared without a trace December 2000, shortly before she was supposed to embark on a sailing trip around the world with her boyfriend. Her family reported her missing in April. Colleen’s boyfriend said they got into a fight and she simply left him, taking all her belongings.
It all sounds fairly pedestrian, but becomes quite suspicious when you consider the fact that somebody, whom authorities don’t believe was Colleen, withdrew $38,000 from her bank accounts in the months after her disappearance. I should also note that Colleen’s boyfriend, John Paul, had a checkered past including convictions for drug smuggling and shooting someone. Apparently Colleen was unaware of this.
John Paul has a Wikipedia entry of his own due to his fame as a race car driver; the entry mentions Colleen’s disappearance. (It cites her Charley Project entry as a source, actually.) He apparently took off on his around-the-world trip without her in 2001 and dropped out of sight. He may be living in Thailand. The authorities have stopped short of naming him a suspect in Colleen’s case, but they do want to question him.
Of course, Paul’s previous criminal record doesn’t mean he was involved in Colleen Wood’s disappearance, and it’s worth looking at other people who might have been desperate enough to harm her for her money. It would appear Mr. Paul is or was a wealthy man; would he have committed murder for $38,000? Perhaps he is telling the truth and she really did leave him, and something else happened to her after that. But in any case, I highly doubt she’s still alive.
The Charley Project Blog 
Thanks Meaghan! This is one of those tangled web cases that has no happy ending, I think. And appearances can be deceiving….I’ve read of people committing murder for a whole heck of a lot less than $38,000, if that is what happened. Hard telling, though I wonder how they can’t roust him out from where he is for questioning somehow. At any rate, thanks for featuring the case, still no email, got all excited that I could do two whole things before it cycled to death, wouldn’t know what to do now even if I knew what was wrong…sigh. Hate technology sometimes. Stay warm and watch the ice!
Check out our new podcast on John Paul Jr’s missing stepmother by going to chalicepaul.com or click on this link directly and more episodes to come. This story has a lot of interest in Hollywood, a story about a beautiful woman who went missing in 1981 and never got justice. The likely suspect is John Paul Sr. her legal husband at the time of her disappearance. Check it out at http://chalicepaul.com/chalicepauldisappeared-new/
Meaghan and Kat, believe it or not Colleen Wood is not the only woman last seen with John Paul, Sr.
Chalice Paul, 33, missing since the summer of 1981 from Atlanta, Georgia. Case Type: Endangered Missing Adult – Foul Play Suspected
From my post;
Chalice Paul, 33, was last seen alive boarding a plane to go to Florida from Atlanta, Georgia sometime during the summer months of 1981. It is believed that she was last seen with her husband, race car driver John Paul, Sr. in Key West, Florida.
Chalice grew up in a large working class family. For fifteen years she was a senior flight attendant for Delta Airlines. During that time she met and married her first husband Donald Barnett. Donald was a race car buff and one day made the fatal mistake of introducing Chalice to the seemly charming and highly successful race car driver John Paul, Sr. Paul and Chalice were instantly smitten. Chalice divorced her first husband and married Paul at the Lime Rock race track in Salisbury, Connecticut on May 26, 1980.
Complete post and photo of Chalice at my link
Chalice Paul is also featured on the NAMPN, which is used as a source on the same Wikipedia article about John Paul that used the Charley Project profile of Colleen Wood as a source: http://www.nampn.org/cases/paul_chalice.html From reading that and the aforementioned Wikipedia article, that John Paul chap seems as guilty as sin and I wouldn’t be surprised if his temper ruled over him again and he did harm to Ms. Wood. I also see that he sold that boat and retreated into the shadows in Thailand. I pity the poor Thai prostitutes who are probably being subjected to Paul’s tantrums. That is, of course, unless time, aging, and a poorer quality of life have done their damage on John and we’re dealing with a frail old man now. Then again, Gary Glitter looked fairly frail and old when he was arrested for having sex with underaged Thai girls (he was convicted so there’s nothing “alleged” here), so….
Well said Diane! Chalice is officially recognized as missing and endangered for over 33 years. Google Autoweek Magazine artice on May 8, 2014. Here is a link.
Special report, part two: Racers who have run afoul of the law – Autoweek
http://www.autoweek.com
That is quite awful. Is any law enforcement investigating Chalice’s disappearance?
When I wrote that report I could not find any Meaghan. It should be Florida, but I am not sure her case is assigned to anybody. The family has pictures of the Lime Rock news report where they got married. BTW I was at Lime Rock that weekend. My first wife and I were there friends.
Hi Meaghan! To answer your question, there is not investigation to date. I was her best friend before she went missing and I was the one to build the Facebook page, Chalice Paul Missing Person and her web site http://www.chalicepaul.com so if you want to have more dialog then send an email to info@chalicepaul.com
Hi Peter! I just FB friended you please accept…I was Chalice’s best friend before she disappeared. I made the Facebook page, Chalice Paul Missing Person and the website http://www.chalicepaul.com and so glad you are sharing the information to the universe!
I believe Colleen Wood was profiled on ID Discovery’s series “Disappeared” the episode gives more info on what police believed May of happened to Colleen.
I saw that episode and it looks like the boyfriend killed her. Something about she had different bank accounts and kept the personal ID numbers on the computer, to which he had access. Really scary if you think about it. Alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean.
When ID ran the story about Coleen Wood I don’t believe Chalice Paul’s disappearance was every mentioned. Usually ID is more thorough about their stories because this seems to be of importance to both cases of disappearing women while in the company of John Paul Sr.
Hi Shelley, to answer your question above…ID Network did contact me for cover Chalice Paul’s story along with Colleen Wood’s but could not add it due to the legalities as Chalice Paul is not in the system as missing officially and read the whole story on her web site I built at http://www.chalicepaul.com to know the whole story…
I have actually been following the story about Colleen Wood for some time. I worked with her in the 80’s when she lived in Ohio. The only other information I’ve seen is that the detectives were able to track who was taking the money out at the ATM. It was allegedly two teenage girls, who were contacted by “some guy” and paid a percentage of what they took out of Colleen’s account. I certainly hope that this is resolved at some point. I know she’s was very proud of and very close to her son. I’m sure that he has suffered terribly over this. She deserved better.
Hi Deborah, the facts are the teenage girls who ATM’d out Colleen’s money were actually local “hookers” hired by John Paul Sr. to do the dirty deed and got kick backs from him for doing so! Write to Colleen’s son, Mike to ensure he is on top of this investigation. We are on ours and we are tryiing to do so to help get justice for Colleen too. Both women deserved to have a long healthy life.
The information given in the ID programme “Disappeared” regarding the USA NOT HAVING an extradition treaty with Fiji is INCORRECT. As a matter of fact, the treaty between the USA and Fiji respectively, has been inforced since the 24th of june 1935.
Click to access Fiji%20International%20Extradition%20Treaty%20with%20the%20United%20States.pdf
It has been brought to our knowledge that there could be another victim who disappeared in 1983 who was involved with John Paul Sr. His name is David Cassorla who lived in Gainesville, Florida. Read the archived newspaper article.
Click here: The Palm Beach Post – Google News Archive Search
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19851120&id=6ssqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=484FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5685,8248764&hl=en
So on another blog page someone wrote saying John Paul Sr.s old sailboat was in St. Croix? Anyone hear about that? It was this last summer?
I’m working with friends and family of Colleen Wood and Chalice Paul as well as Steven Carson (the man John Paul Sr. shot 5 times) to put together a podcast serial about John Paul Sr. and his crimes. You can check it out at: https://csapod.blogspot.com/
in the iTunes store: https://comesailaway.podbean.com/feed.xml