ST. GEORGE — Everyone who knew Jordan Allgood says the same thing: He was a really nice guy.
Allgood was shot to death while working in his coin shop, Allgood Coin, just two days before Thanksgiving.
Police said a surveillance video caught the murder and apparent robbery on tape, but they have yet to identify the person who wore a gray wig and fake beard. Rare coins, gold and silver were taken during the robbery.
Allgood's death leaves behind a saddened and bewildered network of family and friends who still find it hard to understand why anyone would want to hurt such a gentle man.
"I talked to him every week on the phone. He's just a real nice guy," said Tyson Emery, manager of All About Coins, a Salt Lake coin shop that is spearheading a drive to establish a reward fund for information that helps solve Allgood's murder.
Calls made to the various coin dealers in Utah who belong to the Utah Retail Coin Dealers Association brought in pledges totaling $5,000 for the fund, said Emery.
"We've told everybody in Utah about it (the reward fund). There are three coin clubs meeting this month, and we're hoping they'll want to pledge something," he said, adding Allgood was a member of the association. "We're just trying to keep Jordan's case in the public eye. We're hoping somebody remembers something that helps the police."
The American Numismatic Association, the world's largest non-profit coin collecting organization, is offering a $5,000 reward in the case. Allgood was a member of that group as well.
An initial $5,000 reward offered by the city of St. George brings the fund's total to $15,000.
"We're getting a lot of help from the public and we're following up on leads," said St. George Police Detective Vance Bithell. "It's an active, ongoing investigation."
More than two dozen leads were called in to police in the days following Allgood's murder.
Allgood Coin is in an older, renovated house in a residential section of downtown St. George. Many of the folks who live in the neighborhood are longtime residents with deep roots in Dixie.
"If people have any kind of information about this case, anything at all, even if they don't think it's important, we need them to give us a call," said Bithell, who can be reached at 435-674-5897.
E-mail: nperkins@infowest.com