“Not A Trace Of Him Has Turned Up”: 85 Stories Of People Who Mysteriously Disappeared

An indigenous girl I grew up with. She went missing when she was in her early 20s and was missing for 20 years until they found her bones 3 years ago. People assumed what happened to her, but her family couldn't get closure until they found her. I live in BC, we have a road called The Highway of Tears, and indigenous women going missing is an epidemic that does not get enough attention.

My boss/owner of the company I worked for. He was always pretty hands off for such a small company. It was me, one coworker, and the owner. I saw the owner maybe 3 times over 4 years? We did low voltage/smart home installs. We had an app for scheduling and he’d put stuff on it super late every night, so I never knew what I was doing until I woke up in the morning. It was frustrating, but it worked. I always got paid on time and if he forgot to put something on the schedule he usually still paid me for the day.

One day, nothing shows up on the schedule. Whatever, boss is busy, we’ll figure it out later. Then again, and again etc. 2 weeks I don’t hear anything and nothing on my schedule, got paid for the first week but not the second. His phone is off, coworker hasn’t heard anything. Coworker finds boss’s daughter on Facebook and messages her to see what’s up.

He moved across the country without telling anyone, changed his number and everything. We had multiple contracts with builders, in the middle of like 6 different builds. I still had the company truck and hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment in my garage, same with my coworker.

We told the builders he went to open a new branch and I was now the head of this branch, everything goes through me. Just kept doing the jobs and collecting checks. Luckily I already had most of the permits/licenses I would need. Took a bit to get everything proper but we got there. Told the builders the truth after a few months and they didn’t [care] as long as jobs kept getting done. It’s been 4 years now and we’re still rocking. No idea what made the old boss disappear like that, but it worked out for me.

My best friend at primary school when we were 9/10. We spent nearly every weekend together, sleepovers, same sports teams, his parents took me on their family trip etc. He was from a RIDICULOUSLY rich family, his dad said he was in “scrap metal” but everyone suspected he was involved in something shady. Anyway, one day whilst he was at my house his mum had a massive stroke, it was awful. Over the next few weeks he rarely came into school as you’d expect, and then one day he just never came back in. The school tried calling, I tried calling his house, no answer. My parents tried calling too to no avail and in the end my dad drove me to their house so we could find out what was going on. The house was up for sale and they’d gone. No one ever heard from them again. I’ve tried multiple times now 28 years later to try and find him and his family online, it’s like they never existed. I think about you often and hope you’re OK Adam.

My roommate in college was the most boring, predictable guy you’d ever meet. Accounting major, always asleep by 10 PM, never went to parties. One Tuesday, I came back from class and all his stuff was completely gone. No note, phone disconnected, socials deactivated.
His parents called me panicking a day later. Two weeks later, the police showed up at our dorm. Turns out, 'boring' Dave had been running a massive, highly sophisticated counterfeit luxury watch operation out of a rented storage unit and fled the state right before a raid. Last I heard, he was spotted in Thailand. I still use the fake Rolex he gifted me for my birthday.

My mom and I went over to my grandfather's house (as was our Saturday routine), and he was gone. We called it "senility" back then, but this guy had some bad dementia. We looked for months, and were about to have him declared deceased, when a cleaning lady at a hotel in Vermont called my mom. My mom had the foresight to put a note in his wallet that said "If you find this man and he seems lost or confused please call me at...". The story was he'd rented a car to drive to Quebec to visit his (long deceased) mom, wrecked in Vermont, and just decided that was his new life now. No idea how he had the money to survive, but he did. He was so mad when we picked him up.

Yes so in HS I had a best friend, her name was Toni. One day after school Toni comes to me and asks if I have change for the pay phone (1980’s) I gave her every coin I had in my change purse because she was very upset. I asked her why she was crying and she said “I’ll call you later”.

I was a cheerleader, that night we were having a bonfire (school sponsored) at the stadium, a school spirit kinda thing. I already knew that Toni couldn’t make it because she had a date with a boy we both knew. He was supposed to pick her up at her house. It would’ve been their first date. She never did call me I just figured she was getting ready for her date. After the bonfire was over I went home, but it was kinda late so I didn’t call Toni’s house because her parents were very strict and I didn’t want her to get in trouble for me calling the house too late.

The next day the boy she was supposed to go out with said she never met up with him. And he wanted to know if she was with me and what was wrong, I call Toni , no answer. Police show up at my house and say Toni never came home last night did I talk to her or see her anywhere? Was she at the bonfire? They also talked to the date. Nothing. I told the police about her crying, about her telling me she was going on a date, all of it. They asked me if I thought she would run away, I told them I didn’t think so, but her parents were really mean to her so maybe?

Toni snuck out to go to her date, her parents wouldn’t allow it. So maybe her dad (the meanest one) caught her, and she ran away because of how mean he was? I don’t know, but the rumors started, ppl were saying I was with her and she was abducted, I got away and didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want them to come back for me.

Meanwhile I was a cheerleader at the bonfire doing cheers in front of everyone. The rumors were wild and the police were waiting for me after school every day with more questions. They were convinced Toni ran away and I knew where she went. But I didn’t. I hoped she did run away because that would mean she’s alive! I was convinced she would call eventually to let me know she was ok. That never happened.

After years of torment, her sister threatened me multiple times because she thought I knew where Toni was. I read an update on the case probably a year ago saying that on her deathbed. Toni’s mother admitted that Toni’s stepfather beat her to death and took her body and disposed of it (he was a long haul trucker and he died before Toni’s mother).

All the accusations and bullying and everything and they knew what happened to her. I don’t think the sister knew, but the parents did and they didn’t even get punished for their crimes. It’s so sad that Toni died that way, she was so sweet and did not deserve that. I think about her a lot.

A good friend of mine one day just disappeared. It was two days after his sister's wedding. Just gone. His apartment is empty, except his bed and some kitchen stuff. He didn't tell the landlord he was leaving. His boss came by the bar looking for him after the fourth day. Just poof, vanished.

Three years later, he's back, and in great shape. My friends and I walk into the bar where we hung out and he was sipping a whiskey. "WTH man where have you been? We thought you were d**d! We had a memorial service!"

Turns out he joined the navy.

His parents were LDS, but not regular mormons. They were part of one of the many, many weird offshoots that had some wild beliefs. For example, they still believe that only western-European whites and native americans can be members. Polygamy is a choice but they urge members not to make it. Cruciform vegetables are an affront to Jesus. Flying on airplanes is too. That kind of thing.

Well it was right after his little sister (21, lovely, smart, sadly devout) had her wedding ceremony (which he would not describe) in the temple. Afterwards, they had a little (dry) reception, and then him and his little brother were told by his parents them upstairs in the "bridal room". There, they met up with the groom's parents. Then the couple entered.

They watched the marriage consummate so that there would be no doubt in the church's eyes that the wedding was "valid" or something. He watched his little sister lose her virginity to a guy she had met just a month before.

I was good friends with his sister, too. This disgusted me. But it disgusted him enough that he went home, put all of his stuff in storage, and joined the navy. He's never spoken to his family since and has no plans to.

My childhood friend went to buy a motorcycle he found on Craigslist on the Oregon Coast. He entered the owners property and never came home. He left behind a toddler who he had sole custody of. We believe he was m******d. Another indigenous missing person that the police have forgotten. We miss you Zachary Porter.

Me.

I told my family back in my home country I was moving "down south" for a job. Didn't tell them I was actually flying out of the country for studies. Closed my bank accounts, took all my money in cash with me (less that 5k, even before the plane tickets), put all my belongings into two suitcases and flew away without telling anyone. I then purged my phone of any way to be contacted on my old number/whatsapp account.

Five years later I'm married and a resident in the US, and as far as I can tell my family thinks I just disappeared one day. According to our embassy in the US one time I was getting my passport renewed, they tried filing a missing person's report and couldn't because me leaving the country was in the books, so they couldn't start a search, but it seems they think I just up and disappeared one day.

Family is deeply conservative. Going dark was always the move, but when the opportunity to do so half the planet away presented itself in a way that was achievable, it was too good to pass up. I don't regret it.

Yes - my brother on April 16, 2025. We still don't know what happened. We've found his car, dog, and wallet, all kilometers away from each other.

My highschool classmate disappeared while walking home after a party in our home town. He was 18 and home on spring break from his 1st year at college.

It still messes me up every year when the anniversary comes around. I still help whenever the troopers do a ground search for anyone. I've literally left work in the middle of the day to help search for missing people. Hunting season is always full of hope, maybe someone will find him or his clothes. His disappearance deeply affected me and no amount of therapy can "fix" it, I can't unhear his mother grieving him. I can't hug his little brother tight enough to squeeze the hurt out. Disappearances break people down in ways I didn't know were possible until it happened to me.

Yeah, actually. My buddy Mike from high school just... vanished one day.

We weren't super tight anymore by then, but we still hung out every few months. He was 24, worked at a warehouse, had a girlfriend, played in a [bad] band on weekends. Normal dude. A little quiet, smoked too much, but nothing crazy.

One Tuesday he didn't show up for work. His girlfriend called me that night asking if I'd seen him because he wasn't answering his phone and hadn't come home. His truck was still at his apartment, his wallet and keys were on the kitchen counter. Clothes still in the closet. No note, no goodbye texts, nothing.

We searched for weeks. His family put up flyers, we checked hospitals, the woods behind where he liked to fish. Cops said he was an adult and there was no sign of foul play, so they didn't do much. His girlfriend was a mess for a long time. His mom still calls me sometimes, years later, just to see if I've heard anything.

It's been 10 years now. He literally walked out of his apartment one day and disappeared off the face of the earth. Sometimes I still think about him when I'm driving past his old place.

My mom had a cousin who left the house a few days after she graduated high school and has been seen once since then. My mom's uncle was a career Marine Corps officer who served multiple tours in Vietnam and held his kids to the same standards as the Marines under him. On top of that they lived on a farm so the kids all lived the farm kid life.


About five years after she disappeared my mom and uncle were in the airport getting ready to fly to Florida to visit a different aunt and uncle of theirs and they saw a very stylishly dressed woman in a beautiful floral dress and once my mom saw her face she realized it was her cousin. My mom called her name, her cousin broke down in tears and ran over to hug her and my uncle. They talked for a few minutes and her cousin said she had to go and hugged bye, said she loved them and off she went. That was 50 years ago and there hasn't been a trace since.

Yes. Was going to a tiny high school (I'm talking like, 10 students max) and befriended a quiet, shy girl. Her older sister also attended, and was always loud and extremely controlling of her little sister. I always felt bad for her. One day saw her get picked up by her parents, who were just like the older sister. Controlling to the extreme. The poor girl basically lived under their boots. You could tell by the way she carried herself and the look in her eyes that she was not okay. They did not like me trying to befriend her, either. She ended up going missing not long after. It's been like 18 years and I still don't know what happened to her. Part of me hopes she ran away and is living a better life. But the more practical part of me fears that wasn't the case.

Had a friend who deleted every single social media account over night and changed her number to get away from a completely toxic ex. She became an absolute ghost.

Unfortunately, yes.

A girl about my age and her mom. It was back when I lived in Venezuela. I got to know her through a friend and quickly connected, chatting almost every week or organising a little trip around her place for us to go to the beach.
Her mom was a sweet person, but smoked all the time and looked significantly older than she was.

In 1999, there was a mudslide that literally erased several suburbs of the coast, near Caracas, including their house.

I didn’t even try calling her place because I saw the photos of where they lived, and there was nothing. Then about a year later, I caught up with a friend in common, she confirmed that both my friend and her mom were amongst the thousands that disappear and nothing was found.

When I was about 7 years old (around 1977) my father disappeared (at the time I didn't know he was my stepfather, but my sister was his). They found his truck on the side of the road with all of his stuff in it. There were news bulletins and everything.

Five years later we are driving down the street and my mom suddenly curses and pulls over to the side of the road. She sees him going into a store. He had freaked out about being an adult and ran off. He ended up staying with us for about a year before leaving again. He didn't say goodbye, but he did tell her he was leaving.

My sister tracked him down a few years ago. I don't hate him like I used to, but I had no interest in seeing him again.

My friend's father walked out one day saying he was getting dinner for the family and didn't come back. His mother alerted authorities. He was found about a decade later living with his other family in a town a few hours away. EDIT: I should have also noted that his original family took him back in at a later date.

A cult. One day they called to tell me they found Jesus. But then they told me what “church”. It was a known cult.

They tried converting me of course but that obviously didn’t fly. I tried warning them it was a cult but it was already too late.

I worried about them. I did some research on helping people in cults. I called back a couple weeks later to try. But the phone number was no longer in service. No success with email, snail mail, etc. They quit their job. Their family didn’t know where they were either.

This cult makes you move in with senior members so no bills or leases are in your name. You go off the digital grid so no one can find you. They instruct you to cut all ties with anyone you can’t convert and make sure they can’t “distract” you anymore.

I searched for my friend for many years with no luck.

Finally after the cult leader was dethroned the family reconnected. And then so did I. But my friend is obviously not the same.

A friend had stopped talking in a group chat. Eventually his mother signed into his account to ask if we had heard from him. We learned later he drove out into the desert, got out his car, walked out into the desert, and was never found.