Walter Dunson was an elderly man who disappeared under unknown circumstances and was later reported missing by his son in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1998.
Case[]
Mr. Dunson's son, Gary Adams, said they were shopping together at the Findlay Market around 2 p.m. When he stepped into a butcher shop to get steaks and returned thereafter, he noticed that Dunson was gone.
He was apparently carrying a black leather wallet with around $15 inside and possibly a lottery ticket. A clerk at Cee Kay Beauty Supply recalls that a man who fit Dunson's description bought one from there. Other people at the market also recalled seeing an elderly man, but that man appeared to be twenty years younger than Dunson.
Gary Adams had lived with his family in a rented household for 18 years and his landlord and neighbors don't recall an elderly man living there. His bedroom was at top of the steep stairs and had very few items on it, seeming to be uninhabited.
There were no prescription drugs for him although he had medical problems. Gary's son had lived in that room for two months in 1988 and visited the home regularly after that, he told that he had never met his grandfather or even heard of him for that matter until he was reported missing.
Dunson's driver's license expired in the 1970s and has not been renewed. He was hospitalized in Cincinnati University Hospital thrice for the treatment of either dementia or a mild stroke, but has not been a patient there since then. His most recent photo which is displayed in this case summary was taken in 1973. He has not formally visited a doctor, had any prescriptions filled, held a bank account, made an insurance claim, voted or owned a library card since circa 1980.
He used to frequent Elder Cafe, but no one has seen him since 1980. He sometimes stayed in the Drop Inn Center which is a local shelter for the homeless in 1979 and 1980 but no one had seen him and residents of the shelter do not recognize him in his possible progression of 1998. He once belonged to Calvary Baptist Church and was an usher there. None of the other church members recall seeing him since 1980, except for the pastor who thinks he had seen him some time before 1986, which is the only independent evidence of Dunson's existence after 1980.
Gary also stated that his father kept to himself due to that he was anxious about his family getting in trouble with their landlord for having too many tenants, but his landlord contradicted that by claiming that there were no limits on the number of people who could stay in the home. Dunson was reported missing after the Social Security Administration sent a notice to his and Gary's residence. The notice contained a request of Dunson meeting with a SSA representative in person to confirm his identity. He has been drawing a pension and social security benefits since 1970 and the SSA was in a routine procedure for all recipients who were nearly centenarians to make sure they were still alive and nobody else was impersonating them to cash the checks.
It is believed that Gary had been co-signing his father's checks and depositing them into his own account for years. The amount totaled over $100000 ever since. He was convicted of 25 counts of embezzlement in 1999 for stealing his father's social security benefits. He was acquitted of 25 counts of forgery charges as investigators could not find a sample of Dunson's handwriting to compare his signature on the checks. The court arrived at the conclusion that Dunson has been dead at least since 1985, thus his son had been misappropriating his benefits since 1986. Gary was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution. He was never charged in his father's disappearance.
Dunson was reportedly born in Marietta, Georgia. He is a World War One veteran who worked in an iron foundry and retired in 1970. He was never legally married but he had 8 or 9 children. He is presumed dead.