Missing Person Photos

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 unknown. 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 to 5 percent 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. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images 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.



Missing Person Photos

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos

Theodore Mark Stover
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
missing person case update January 2023 found new details posted
Stover, date, approximate 2009; Michiel Oakes; Linda Opdycke
Date Missing 10/28/2009
Missing From
Anacortes, Washington
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 03/18/1952 (70)
Age 57 years old
Height and Weight 5'9, 180 pounds
Associated Vehicle(s) Chevrolet (accounted for)
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Stover goes by his middle name, Mark.
Details of Disappearance Stover was last seen in Anacortes, Washington on October 28, 2009. He has never been heard from again.
After his disappearance, his Chevrolet was found parked at the Northern Lights Casino. There were bloody finger smears on the back. Authorities found blood smears in the downstairs bedroom and hallway of Stover's house, and his bathroom smelled of bleach. His Belgian Malinois dog had been shot in the face; it survived its injuries.
Michiel Glen Oakes was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Stover's just a few days after Stover was last seen. Oakes is the live-in boyfriend of Linda Opdycke, Stover's ex-wife. Photos of both of them are posted with this summary.
Stover and Opdycke separated in 2006 and divorced the following year. In early 2008, she took out a restraining order against him and had him arrested. She claimed he harassed her, repeatedly came to her home uninvited and sometimes broke in, and went through her garbage. She stated she was "deathly afraid" of him.
Stover was later convicted of stalking Opdycke. After April 2008, he never contacted her again. His loved ones stated he had moved on from the divorce and no longer obsessed about it, and had become engaged to another woman.
On the night of Stover's disappearance, one of his neighbors called the police to report two suspicious vehicles trespassing at a grange hall half a mile from Stover's home. The neighbor said he saw a man moving a bundle wrapped in plastic from one car to the other.
An officer responded and found two cars, one of them Stover's and the other Oakes's. The officer spoke to Oakes, who claimed he'd stopped at the grange hall to make a phone call. He had a pile of blankets in the back of his car and dog hair on his shirtsleeves. The officer did not see Stover.
Stover's fiancee reported him missing the next day. The police went to Opdycke and Oakes's home to speak to them about the disappearance, and Oakes asked for permission to go get some medication out of his car. When he went outside he threw a plastic bag out over an embankment.
The police got the bag and found a .22 caliber pistol, a hunting mask and a swatch of bloodstained carpet cut from the floor of Oakes's vehicle. He was carrying a 9-millimeter pistol on his person as well. Authorities subsequently searched Oakes's car and found traces of Stover's blood inside. They also found a bullet-proof vest with a spent bullet in it.
At his trial, Oakes admitted to shooting Stover but claimed self-defense. He stated he and Stover got into a confrontation at Stover's home and Oakes shot him and his dog with his own gun.
Oakes said he was carrying two guns himself at the time because Stover's behavior had become increasingly dangerous and threatening, but he hadn't drawn either of them. He said Stover shot him during the fight and the only reason he survived was because he was wearing the bullet-proof vest. He then dumped Stover's body and the murder weapon into the Swinomish Channel behind the Northern Lights Casino.
Oakes claimed he didn't go to the police because he thought no one would believe his story. Prosecutors, however, theorized that Oakes planned Stover's murder, purchased equipment for the killing and body disposal beforehand, then used one of his own guns to shoot the vest as it lay flat on the ground.
Oakes was convicted of first-degree murder in October 2010. The following month, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
At the time of his disappearance, Stover was a well-known and very respected dog trainer who ran the Island K-9 Training service out of his home. He had trained dogs for many wealthy and prominent people, including at least two rock stars, a professional baseball player and the founder of the Starbucks coffee chain, and he was a certified expert witness who testified about dog behavior in court s.
Foul play is suspected in his due to the circumstances involved.
Investigating Agency
Skagit County Sheriff's Office
360-336-9450
Other
Unsolved in the News
Washington State Missing Persons Search
The Seattle Times
KIRO TV
KOMO News
WBRZ 4
The Skagit Valley Herald
King 5
Q 13 Fox
NamUs
CBS News

Missing Person Photos

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 unknown. 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 to 5 percent 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. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images 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.



Missing Person Photos

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos