Missing
Michael Pierce Madden
Madden, approximately 1986
Date and time person was reported missing : 09/15/1986
Missing location (approx) :
Bellingham, Washington
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 10/29/1953 (67)
Age at the time of disappearance: 32 years old
Height / Weight : 5'9, 150 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Madden wears eyeglasses. He has steel pins implanted in his left knee.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Madden was on September 15, 1986 by his landlady at his home in Bellingham, Washington. He was a senior at Western Washington University at the time of his disappearance. He was unemployed and lived off a Veterans Affairs disability pension. He has never been heard from again.
After Madden's disappearance, William Milligan rented a post office box in Madden's name and diverted Madden's pension checks there, as well as a $7,000 GI Bill check intended for his education. Milligan also sold Madden's silver Audi a few days after he went missing.
Milligan, who also uses the alias Christopher Carr, has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder and had escaped from an Ohio mental hospital earlier in 1986. He was committed there in 1978 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity on the charges of raping three women.
Milligan escaped from the hospital in July 1986 and traveled to Washington, where he lived in the same apartment building as Madden. He was apprehended after Madden's disappearance.
Milligan is considered a strong suspect in Madden's case. He was the last person known to have seen Madden before he disappeared and he gave conflicting stories to the police.
He has not been charged in connection with Madden's disappearance, however. He stated Madden had given him his car prior to going missing, in payment for a loan, and that he had a right to sell it.
Madden is missing under suspicious circumstances; valuable items were left behind in his apartment when he vanished and his loved ones stated it is uncharacteristic of him to leave without warning. Foul play is suspected in Madden's case.
Other information and links : ncy
Bellingham Police Department
360-676-6941
September 2021 updates and sources
California Attorney General's Office
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Stars And Stripes
October 12, 2004. November 2, 2007; Description, clothing, jewerly and more : and Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map