91-year-old woman’s family wants answers as two remain missing after Colorado fires

 

SUPERIOR, Colo. (KUSA) - The look of the night may be different, but the question remains the same: What happened to Nadine Turnbull?

“But it’s difficult, difficult not knowing. (I’d) much rather know,” said Hutch Armstrong, Turnbull’s grandson-in-law.

He said he and his family reported Turnbull was missing after his cousin could not get her out of their home in old town Superior during the wildfire Thursday.

“They tried to go out the front door with the neighbor. It was engulfed. Checked the back door, it was engulfed,” Armstrong said.

A "historic windstorm" with gusts over 100 mph fueled a vicious wildfire in Colorado. More than 30,000 people were forced to evacuate, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

He said their cousin tried to go back for her, but firefighters pulled her away.

“She says two times, ‘She was right behind me, right behind me,’” Armstrong said.

With fire bearing down, he said they had to leave, and the family feared the worst about grandma Turnbull.

“Just a nice person, genuine person, Christian lady. In fact, my wife went over there, what, the day after Christmas, was talking to her and she said she’s doing good. She said, ‘I’m going to live to be a 100,’” Armstrong said.

Nadine moved to old town Superior with her husband in 1965.

Hundreds of Colorado homes lost and tens of thousands of residents told to evacuate due to fast-growing wildfires.

Armstrong said they have started the grieving process, describing Turnbull as “just loving, caring, always worried about everybody else was doing.”

Then Armstrong said they heard this from Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle on Friday: “Good news. We still have no reports of casualties or fatalities. The missing person we had last night has been accounted for and is well.”

“And, then you hear that there’s no deaths, reported her missing. That’s the only one they said one woman reported missing. It just doesn’t make sense,” Armstrong said.

The sheriff later confirmed that two people are missing.

Armstrong said the hardest part is just not knowing.

“I do think we have a right to know. If there’s such a woman who was reported missing and is safe, why can’t I get the information if it’s her or it’s not?” he asked.

Armstrong says authorities won’t give his family any information, and they just want to know what happened to grandma Turnbull.

“After hearing the news today, we were a little bit, just want to know,” he said.

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