Marvin Clark:

The Missing Man Everyone Thought Was Found

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re off to Portland, Oregon, in October, 1926, at the start of a journey that will end in mystery.

Marvin Clark was a former town marshal in his early 70’s who set out from Tigard, Oregon, for Portland, Oregon, on October 30, 1926. He was planning to visit his married daughter, who managed a hotel. Some sources report that he took a stagecoach, but most agree it was a “motor stage” or bus. Unfortunately, he never reached the hotel, and never returned home. Today, Marvin Clark’s case is the oldest open missing persons case in the United States, having been officially in progress for nearly 99 years.

Marvin Clark was born in Iowa and had lived in Tigard for 15 years. Unfortunately, now that he was in his 70’s, he was not in the best of health physically. He walked with a limp and had some right-side paralysis of his arm. And, evidence may possibly show he was not in the best mental health either. 

In early November, just days after his disappearance, Clark’s wife, Mary, received a postcard sent from nearby Bellingham, Washington, possibly from her husband. The message unfortunately did not make much sense, which could have been a sign of dementia. Witnesses also may have seen Clark at hotels in Bellingham on November 2 and 3. There were no further sightings.

So where did Clark end up? In 1926, Oregon and Washington were more heavily forested than now, and Bellingham sits on a bay. There are many places where an elderly disabled man with possible dementia might unfortunately wander into wilderness or water and not be found for years. In the forest, animals can scatter remains, and years of Pacific Northwest weather would certainly have taken their toll. It’s a truly heartbreaking end for any person—and the family they leave behind.

Bellingham, Washington, in 1909

In 1986 a skeleton was found in the woods near Tigard: a skeleton almost certainly from around the 1920’s. “Multnomah John Doe” was found with coins dating to 1888 and 1919. There was also a very old revolver with a spent cartridge, and the skull had a bullet hole. The death was ruled a suicide. Despite that, it was widely assumed Marvin Clark had finally been found.

Years passed before investigators could find a descendant of Marvin Clark for a DNA test, but in 2018, a great-great-granddaughter named Pam Knowles submitted DNA—which proved the remains were not those of Clark.

The age estimate had been different: John Doe was thought to be between 35 and 55, not in his 70’s like Clark. Still, the coincidence had seemed too perfect. Unfortunately, the deceased man has yet to be identified, but as investigators have his DNA, there is hope that someday his remains can be returned to his family.

As for Marvin Clark, perhaps someday his remains will also be found somewhere in the Oregon-Washington wilderness, and his family will finally get the answers to a 100-year-old mystery.

Check out two other Weird Wednesday missing persons cases: Everett Ruess (1934, Utah) and Benjamin Bathurst (1809, Prussia).

If you’d like to write a mystery based on history, here are some vanishing writing prompts!

Let’s say you’ve got a missing persons case and an intrepid investigator, whether they be law enforcement, family, or a civilian sleuth. Here are a few different plot possibilities:

• The missing person is never found. An unresolved mystery does make for compelling reading. (After all, you’re reading this post.) The trick here is whether the reader is given the answer, even though your investigator is not. Perhaps the reader sees your missing person fall into a body of water or take a midnight train going anywhere, but the investigator never gets the vital clue that would solve the mystery. Or perhaps your investigator runs down every possible avenue and rules them all out, leaving the reader to wonder.

• The missing person is found exactly where they should be. This might not seem too exciting as a plot, but finding a missing person, either alive or dead, is only one phase of an investigation. The rest of the story can delve into the reasons for their disappearance, and whether anyone else was involved. Was the motive love, money, or revenge, or might there be a conspiracy involved to silence someone with vital info?

• The missing person is found in a strange place. The sort of place your missing person could reasonably get to, but nobody would expect. Perhaps a missing person with no known access to money manages to get on a plane and end up across the country. Or maybe they find a kayak and are found on an island in the middle of lake. Or maybe some ordinary person is found in what should have been a highly secured location, like a closed bank or military base. You could have a natural explanation for all of these occurrences, or you could get speculative and invoke aliens, magic, or teleportation.

• The missing person is found in an impossible place. Here you do have to go the aliens-magic-teleportation-etc route, because now you’ve got a city guy found on Mt. Everest or a lady walking her dog who ends up 1000 miles away an hour later. What would your investigator do when confronted with this situation? It depends on your genre, of course: if your universe has magic, then you have a magical whodunit. If not, you’ve got the mystery of a lifetime.

• The missing person is found in a strange time. This would be a truly weird situation: like finding a longtime missing person alive, when they should be 150 years old. Or finding their remains, confirmed with DNA, but seeming like they passed away yesterday. Or you could go the opposite route: finding a body with artifacts and clothing from the 1920’s, clearly exposed to the weather for many years, but it’s someone who went missing a week ago. Time travel’s the obvious answer here, but how did it happen, and who exactly was the traveler? Your missing person? Their killer? The forest where they were found?

Thanks for spending your Weird Wednesday here! Wherever you’re off to next, please travel safely.

Sources & further reading:

Marvin Clark of Tigard missing – for 92 years: KOIN News

Disappearance of Marvin Clark: Wikipedia

Marvin Alvin Clark: NAMUS (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System)

Who is Multnomah County John Doe 1986?: Reddit post by FoundationSeveral579 in r/GratefulDoe

Multnomah County John Doe: NAMUS

Multnomah County John Doe: The Doe Network