SK man found dead in tour bus

A 66-year-old Port Orchard man who ran a touring company with his wife was found dead in Portland Saturday after dropping off a group at a nearby mall, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said that Gordon Eugene Janssen was reported missing to his office by his wife, Connie, around 7:15 p.m. Saturday after her husband did not show up as expected to pick up the tour group after a shopping stop.

Mrs. Janssen, who operated Janssen’s Olympic Trails Charters and Tours with her husband, said she became concerned after learning that he never arrived back at the mall to pick up the group he drove down to Portland from Olympia.

She told a deputy that she had last talked to her husband around noon via his cell phone and he reported no problems at that time.

She said after dropping groups on such trips, he typically parks nearby to wait until the scheduled pick-up time.

After informing Mrs. Janssen that she should contact the Portland Police Department, a deputy agreed to contact the deceased’s cell phone company and find the last location of his cell phone.

The deputy then received an address of the last tower that was “pinged” by Janssen’s cell phone.

The following day, Mrs. Janssen again spoke with a deputy, who asked if her husband had any health issues.

She said no, but that she was concerned because the bus might be full of expensive merchandise, since her husband said that the group was foreign students who had asked to go shopping at Best Buy.

She said that someone may have followed the group back to the bus, and that her husband would open the door if someone approached.

In contacting the Janssen’s financial institutions, a deputy learned that there had been no recent or suspicious activity with his cards.

The deputy then alerted the Portland Police Department to the location of the last cell phone tower Janssen’s phone had “pinged,” and was later notified that officers had located Janssen deceased inside his bus.

The Portland officer said it appeared that the death was due to natural causes.

A source at the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s office said that the cause and manner of Janssen’s death had not been determined, and he was not certain if an autopsy was scheduled.

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