Who is Jim Durgan’s Murder? Where are Kristin Durgan, Brian Folsom, and Andrew Tanner?

Investigation Discovery’s “ Valley of the Damned: The Absent Father” traces the tragic murder of Jim Durgan in Salida, Colorado, in July 2008. The police did not have to look for long before nabbing his killers. The documentary meticulously untangles the various layers of the case.

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Where are Kristin Durgan, Brian Folsom, and Andrew Tanner Today?

Brian Folsom pled guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping charges and was sentenced to 48 years in prison on July 10, 2009. He is presently incarcerated in a cell at The Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Crowley County, Colorado. His inmate records state his estimated parole eligibility date is August 20, 2040.

Andrew Tanner was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, and violent crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment without a chance of parole in September 2009. He is currently living his sentence in a cell at the Limon Correctional Facility in Lincoln County, Colorado.

Kristin Durgin also pled guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping charges in April 2009 and also testified against Andrew at his trial. She was sentenced to 54 years in jail. She is presently incarcerated in a cell at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in Denver, Colorado. Her inmate records state that her estimated parole eligibility date is March 6, 2043.

How Did Jim Durgan Die?

Jim Durgan was a fun and easy-going man who loved outdoor activities such as fishing and hunting. He met Kristin Durgan in Phoenix, Arizona in 1990 through a mutual friend. They both fell in love and got married on July 3, 1992, in Las Vegas. On July 11, 2008, the Fremont County Sheriff’s officers received a call from Kristin where she said her husband had been missing.

jim durgan family

The officers started looking for Jim and found his car abandoned in the Lone Pine Recreational Area at the edge of Fremont County. On July 19, 2008, the police found the body in the Arkansas River. The body had become bloated and disfigured and impossible to identify.

Who killed Jim Durgan?

The investigators started looking into Kristin Durgan as she gave a very disturbing picture of her marriage with Jim. As per the show, Kristin was diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years after her marriage, and she had also developed a gambling addiction. A major reason behind the couple shifting back to Salida was to keep her away from gambling.

The show mentioned that Kristin had found a casino in Cripple Creek and used to frequent it there until her debt became too much that she was caught by her husband. Jim put Kristin twice in rehab, but her gambling addiction couldn’t be controlled. In March 2008, Jim came home to find his wife being unfaithful.

While she was working in Local Pizza, she met Andrew, who later became her boyfriend. The police soon found more connections like when they discovered Brian was an ex-employee at Andrew’s workplace. Brian broke down during the interrogation and confessed to playing a role in Jim’s murder.

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He claimed that Andrew paid some money to kidnap Jim on July 10, 2008, from the Lone Pine Recreational Area and took him to a remote area and Brian tied Jim to a tree with phone cables, handcuffed his hands to the tree and duck taped his mouth and mouth shut. Brian added that he then went back to Andrew, who came back later to shoot Jim and dispose of his body. 

Along with Brian’s confession, Kristin broke down and confessed it was she who had lured Jim to the Lone Pine Recreational Area using their kids as bait and implied to Andrew to kill her husband. Kristin, Brian, and Andrew were charged with and arrested for Jim’s murder in 2008.

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