Courtesy Fox 31 News Denver

Lance Hering's mug shot.

Lance Hering appears in court today in Clallam County, Wash. (Peninsula Daily News/Port Angeles, Wash.)

Photo by Mark Leffingwell

Lloyd Hering (L) comforts his wife, Elynne Hering (R), during a press conference discussing their missing son, Lance Hering, in Eldorado Canyon State Park Tuesday September 12, 2006 in Boulder, Colo.

Lance Hering

Photos found in the possession of a long-missing Boulder Marine that show him at the Burning Man festival in Nevada more than two months ago began to shed light on one of the most confounding mysteries in the disappearance of Lance Hering — his whereabouts during the 808 days he was gone.

The photos, found by police in Port Angeles, Wash., in a bag belonging to Hering and documented in an arrest report released Tuesday, also show Lance Hering in the Nevada desert with his father, raising questions as to how long Lloyd Hering, 60, had been in contact with his son since the Marine staged his disappearance in August 2006.

The elder Hering was arrested Sunday with Lance as the two men got ready to take off in a Cessna 210 that Lloyd Hering had piloted to Port Angeles’ Fairchild International Airport. He told police immediately following his arrest that “he had not seen his son in the two years since he has been gone,” the report stated.

He told the arresting officer that Lance Hering, 23, had “reached out to him and his family months ago and began slowly communicating with them.”

“Lloyd stated that Lance originally had no intention of turning himself in, but came around recently,” the officer wrote in the report.

The plan that formed, according to the report, was for Lloyd Hering to fly his son to Virginia to see a forensic psychiatrist. From there, Lance Hering would go see military law attorney James Culp in Texas to build his defense before surrendering himself to Marine officials at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Culp confirmed to Port Angeles police Lance and Lloyd Hering’s account of how they would eventually bring the Marine to Camp Pendleton. The lawyer assured police he could forward them e-mails corroborating the plan, the report stated.

In addition to facing a Marine Corps warrant for desertion, Lance Hering is wanted by Boulder County for a probation violation stemming from a 2004 conviction of attempted burglary and on suspicion of false reporting related to his disappearance.

Hering, a lance corporal, went missing Aug. 30, 2006, after he and a friend staged a climbing accident in Eldorado Canyon State Park. A massive manhunt ensued for nearly a week before authorities discovered that the whole story was a ruse designed to allow Hering to disappear so he didn’t have to return to his Marine unit.

His friend, Steve Powers, told the Camera last year that Hering feared for his life because of something he had witnessed Marines in his unit do.

Reached Tuesday on his cell phone, Lloyd Hering wouldn’t speak about the recent photos showing him and his son together.

“I’m really glad I saw my son, and I love him very much,” he said. “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to deliver him to Camp Pendleton.”

Father scheduled for court appearance

Lloyd Hering is scheduled to appear in court in Port Angeles on Dec. 2 on a citation of rendering criminal assistance for delaying the apprehension of a known fugitive, a misdemeanor.

The arresting officer wrote that the photo album police found in a black Eastport bag that Lance Hering had brought on board the Cessna showing father and son together indicated that “Lloyd Hering has clearly had physical contact with his son prior to November 16th in Port Angeles and had ample opportunity to provide him to the proper authorities.”

One photo is described as showing Lloyd Hering embracing Kimberly Pace — the 31-year-old woman who police say accompanied Lance Hering to the airport shortly before he was arrested — while two others show a Piper Cherokee 235 near where the three are standing that police believe belongs to Lloyd Hering, a licensed pilot.

The report stated that detectives were able to determine from a wooden structure in one picture that the setting was Burning Man, an annual festival that takes place in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada during the week leading up to Labor Day.

Dennis Dickson, senior assistant city attorney for Port Angeles, said Tuesday it’s likely Lloyd Hering will be prosecuted by his office.

Police said Pace, who lives in the Port Angeles area, told them she knew Lance Hering was wanted, but she didn’t know where he and his father were going and why they were leaving the area.

The extent of Pace’s relationship with Hering is unclear, and several attempts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Juggling jurisdictions

The question as to which jurisdiction — Boulder County or the Marine Corps — gets to deal with Lance Hering first is still up in the air.

Cmdr. Phil West, of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, said talks among the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, the state Attorney General’s Office and representatives of the military’s Judge Advocate General are underway.

West said his department has no immediate plans to retrieve Hering from the Clallam County Jail, where he is being held on a $5,000 bond.

Port Angeles Deputy Chief Brian Smith said the Marines have wide latitude in the case.

“The Marines can step in any time and claim someone they have a desertion warrant on,” he said.

A Marine spokesman didn’t return an e-mail request for comment Tuesday.

Hering is fighting extradition back to Colorado and is scheduled to appear before a judge on the matter Friday.

Alex Garlin, Lance Hering’s Louisville-based attorney, said he has received no information regarding which charge his client might be facing first.

“I’m sure Lance has no illusions that he’s not going to be brought physically to each of these jurisdictions — it’s just a question of the order in which things happen,” he said.

Garlin said the timing of Sunday’s arrests was unfortunate. He said Culp, the military lawyer, had been working on behalf of his client and “laying the groundwork” for Lance Hering’s surrender to the Marines.

“Once all the facts are known, I would hope that even the skeptics will see that this is what Lance was heading for — voluntary surrender,” he said.