Famously Disappeared

There’s nothing quite like a mystery. We feverishly flip through mystery novels, flock to movie thrillers, and agonize over cliffhanger endings to TV episodes, all for the excitement and thrill of uncovering the truth and discovering “whodunnit.” Even more fascinating than a fictional mystery? The tale of a real-life disappearance. We hear the words “vanished without a trace” and we want to learn more. Our amateur detective instincts kick in and maybe, we think, we’ll even be able to solve the mystery ourselves. Join us as we remember Jimmy Hoffa and others who have famously disappeared… maybe you’ll form some theories of your own.

RICO HARRIS

RICO HARRIS | 2014 – A high school standout in his native Southern California, he later led Los Angeles City College (LACC) to its first state junior college title in 1997. After his college career, he played for International Basketball League teams and with the Harlem Globetrotters, before injuries forced him out of the game. Harris was en route from his mother’s house in Alhambra, California to Seattle, where he was relocating to be with his longtime girlfriend, when he disappeared. His abandoned car was found in a park near Sacramento, but Harris has not been found.

JIMMY HOFFA

JIMMY HOFFA | 1975 – Hoffa, pictured here with his wife Josephine, was a union leader with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Connected to organized crime and accused of jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud, Hoffa was imprisoned in 1967 and pardoned by President Richard Nixon in 1971. Four years later, Hoffa disappeared without a trace, last seen at a restaurant near Detroit. He was declared dead in 1982.

OSCAR “ZETA” ACOSTA

OSCAR “ZETA” ACOSTA | 1974 – An attorney, politician, and activist in the Chicano Movement, Acosta was best known for his novels “Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo” (1972) and “The Revolt of the Cockroach People” (1973), as well as his friendship with author Hunter S. Thompson, who characterized Acosta as a heavyweight Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in his novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Acosta disappeared in 1974 during a trip in Mazatlán, Mexico, and is presumed dead.

RAY ROBINSON

RAY ROBINSON | 1973 – Alabama civil rights activist Ray Robinson traveled to South Dakota in 1973 to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Oglala Lakota and American Indian Movement activists had seized control of Wounded Knee, the site of the infamous 1890 massacre, and were occupying the town in a standoff with U.S. law enforcement that would last for 71 days. Robinson, an experienced organizer, went to the reservation to support the occupation and work to align the rights movements of both groups of people of color. He was never seen again. The FBI believes he was killed by AIM, though his body has never been recovered. Robinson’s widow and children have spent decades trying to find out what happened to him.

HALE BOGGS

HALE BOGGS | 1972 – A member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana, Boggs was House Majority Leader and served on the Warren Commission investigating the death of President John F. Kennedy. In October 1972, Boggs was in Alaska, campaigning for fellow representative Nick Begich. The two boarded a small plane from Anchorage to Juneau, but they were never seen again. Conspiracy theorists suggest that it was more than a simple plane crash, given his involvement in the Warren Commission.

D.B. COOPER

D.B. COOPER | 1971 – That is the alias of the person, real name unknown, who carried out the only successful case of air piracy in U.S. history. After buying a ticket to a flight from Portland to Seattle, he hijacked the flight, collected $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted from the plane, leaving no trace. Authorities insist that the man probably didn’t survive the jump, but that hasn’t stopped a curious nation from searching for any signs of the mysterious hijacker.

AP Photo RAOUL WALLENBERG

RAOUL WALLENBERG | 1945 – Wallenberg was a Swedish architect and diplomat responsible for saving the lives of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. But not long after the war’s end, Wallenberg was detained by Soviet authorities, who suspected him of espionage. He was reported dead in 1947, but there have been numerous accounts from prisoners who claim to have seen him alive as late as 1987.

GLENN MILLER

GLENN MILLER | 1944 – The big band leader was at the peak of popularity when he signed up to serve in the U.S. Army Air Force Band during World War II. His recordings and radio broadcasts boosted morale and patriotism. On Dec. 15, 1944, Miller was flying from England to Paris when his plane disappeared over the English Channel.

AMELIA EARHART

AMELIA EARHART | 1937 – Earhart is one of history’s most famous disappearance stories. While she was attempting to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart disappeared somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean. More than 75 years later, we remain fascinated with her story, and the search for her plane – and her remains – continues, with efforts concentrated around Howland Island.

WALLACE FARD MUHAMMAD

WALLACE FARD MUHAMMAD | c. 1933 – Not much is known about Fard before he arrived in Detroit, Michigan, in 1930, a silk seller with an obscure background and several aliases. He may have been a light-skinned black man, or perhaps of Arab or Pakistani descent. One author cites his birthplace as New Zealand and his parents of East Indian and British backgrounds. Three or so years after arriving in Detroit, Fard left the city and slipped into obscurity once more, but not before co-founding a religious sect that would have enormous influence during the decades to come: the Nation of Islam.

ROALD AMUNDSEN

ROALD AMUNDSEN | 1928 – Amundsen was known as the leader of the expedition that was the first to reach the South Pole. He went on to visit the North Pole and became the first to traverse the Northwest Passage. It was on a rescue mission that Amundsen disappeared, searching the Arctic for a team of explorers lost after a trip to the North Pole. Many assume that his plane crashed, though no wreckage or remains were ever found.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

AGATHA CHRISTIE | 1926 – The tale of mystery writer Christie’s disappearance is the only one here with a happy ending, though it’s still unsolved. Christie disappeared for 10 days in 1926, just after an argument with her husband. She was found in a hotel, registered under a different name and apparently suffering from amnesia. Though Christie lived until 1976, no conclusive explanation for her disappearance was ever found.

AMBROSE BIERCE

AMBROSE BIERCE | 1913 – An author and journalist, Bierce wrote dark tales but none as dark as that of his own disappearance. In 1913 Bierce traveled to Mexico to gain insight into the Mexican Revolution. While traveling with Pancho Villa’s army, he dropped off the map, last heard from in a letter from Dec. 12 of that year. Some believe he was executed by a firing squad, but no evidence of his fate exists.

DOROTHY ARNOLD

DOROTHY ARNOLD | 1910 – The New York socialite was last seen walking down busy Fifth Avenue, buying a box of chocolates and a book. There was some evidence that she may have been secretly planning a transatlantic trip, while others believe she was the victim of a botched abortion or a killing in Central Park.

MARY CELESTE PASSENGERS AND CREW

MARY CELESTE PASSENGERS AND CREW | 1872 – Few mysteries are as tantalizing as that of the Mary Celeste. The ship was found abandoned in calm water in the Atlantic Ocean near the Strait of Gibraltar, with no signs of storm or other difficulty, her hull full of provisions and her crew’s valuables and belongings left on board. Ten passengers and crew were aboard before the abandonment, and no trace of any of them has been found.

SOLOMON NORTHUP

SOLOMON NORTHUP | 1857 – Northup gained renown for his memoir “Twelve Years a Slave,” a harrowing account of his kidnapping from freedom into slavery and his subsequent escape. It was 1853 when Northup regained his freedom, and his famous memoir was published that same year. Only four years later, Northup disappeared from the public record. Some believe he died, while others suggest he may have been kidnapped and sold back into slavery.

SEQUOYAH

SEQUOYAH | c. 1843 – Sequoyah was known for creating a written alphabet for the Cherokee language, encouraging a literacy rate among his people that surpassed of the European settlers at the time. In the years after the creation of his alphabet, the Cherokee people were torn apart by the Indian Removal Act. As Sequoyah traveled around North America to try to locate scattered Cherokee bands, he disappeared, probably near the Mexico-Texas border.

ROANOKE COLONY

ROANOKE COLONY | c. 1587 – As mysterious as the abandonment of the Mary Celeste is the disappearance of every last resident of a colony on Roanoke Island, on the coast of present-day North Carolina. Visitors who had left a well-populated colony returned to find not a soul, with the only clue to their disappearance carved into a fencepost – the word “Croatoan.” It was the name of a local Native American tribe and a nearby island, but to this day, no one knows what happened to them.