Missing
Oliver Wendell Munson
Munson, approximately 1984
Date and time person was reported missing : 02/13/1984
Missing location (approx) :
Catonsville, Maryland
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
Black
Age at the time of disappearance: 39 years old
Height / Weight : 5'10, 160 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Munson was last seen in Catonsville, Maryland on February 13, 1984. A neighbor saw him departing his residence at 7:50 a.m., presumably en route to Howard County, Maryland, where Munson was employed as an industrial arts teacher at Ellicot City Middle School. He never arrived at the school and has never been heard from again. His family reported him missing on February 14.
On February 16, Munson's 1980 Ford Pinto was found parked on Braeside Road in Catonsville, two blocks from his home. The right front tire was flat. Munson's touring cap, school notebook and lunchbag were inside the vehicle. There was no sign of him at the scene.
On February 27, two weeks after Munson's disappearance, two video store receipts bearing his name, tEthnicity : s of human blood, and a spent small-caliber shell casing were located in a blue 1973 Datsun 240Z vehicle parked at the edge of Leakin Park in West Baltimore, Maryland. The vehicle had been reported stolen the same day Munson vanished.
The blood in the car was typed as O-positive, but no one knows Munson's blood type and DNA technology wasn't available in 1984, and now the sample is too deteriorated to be tested, so it hasn't been confirmed that it was his blood.
Authorities believe Munson may have been murdered in retaliation for giving evidence against an automobile theft ring. He had unknowingly purchased a stolen vehicle from one of the thieves, Dennis L. Watson, the year before he disappeared. This was the same car that was found at Leakin Park. Munson was scheduled to testify against Watson on February 16, three days after he vanished.
Watson pleaded guilty to auto theft and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was paroled in 1989. In 1973, a man who was scheduled to testify against Watson in an armed robbery case was killed. Watson was charged with first-degree murder, but he was never brought to trial because one of the witnesses in the murder case died. Watson's current whereabouts are unknown. He was interviewed about Munson's disappearance, but maintained his innocence.
Munson graduated from the University of Maryland at East Shore. He was well-liked at Ellicot City Middle School and took his students bowling twice a week. He is one of six children and has a reclusive nature. He enjoyed working on old cars which he kept in his yard, and he frequently left town on the weekends to visit his mother and siblings on the eastern shore. He was declared legally dead in 1985; the judge ruled he was the victim of a presumptive homicide. No one has been charged in his disappearance; it remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Baltimore County Police Department
410-887-3943
September 2021 updates and sources
The Doe Network
Unsolved Mysteries
The Howard County Times
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
5 October 12, 2004. December 20, 2013; Height / Weight : added.
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