Franklin Eugene Marston, also known as “Skip,” was 32 years old when he disappeared from Lewiston, Maine, on July 31, 1977. He was a White/Caucasian man with brown hair and blue eyes, described as approximately 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall and 155 to 165 pounds. He wore glasses and had a scar on the right side of his abdomen. When last documented, he was reportedly wearing a white V-neck T-shirt, coverall jeans, and green combat boots.
His case is listed in NamUs as MP55259, with the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office identified as the investigating agency.
The known story of Franklin’s disappearance begins at home in Lewiston. According to public case summaries, Franklin left with the intention of going to Rams Island to take pictures along the Androscoggin River in Turner, Maine. That detail gives the day a quiet, ordinary beginning: a man setting out with a camera, apparently drawn to the river landscape. The public information does not describe an argument, a known threat, or a confirmed destination beyond the Rams Island area, leaving the purpose of the trip as one of the few human details preserved in the record.
After Franklin was last seen, his vehicle was found abandoned at the Center Bridge in Turner. That discovery shifted the focus of his disappearance from Lewiston to the Turner area along the Androscoggin River, but the available public sources do not say what condition the vehicle was in, whether his camera or personal belongings were recovered, or whether there were signs explaining why he did not return. The abandoned vehicle remains one of the central known facts in the case, standing as the last public marker between Franklin’s planned photography trip and the long silence that followed.
The case has remained publicly documented for decades, but the available online record is sparse. NamUs lists Franklin’s date of last contact as July 31, 1977, and identifies Lewiston as the place he was missing from, while other public missing-person listings repeat the same core details: his age, physical description, last known area, and the discovery of his abandoned vehicle near Center Bridge. Few additional circumstances have been made public, and one public case summary states that few details are available and that Franklin’s whereabouts remain unknown.
Franklin’s case is still remembered through the identifying details that remain: a 32-year-old Lewiston man nicknamed Skip, a planned trip to photograph the Androscoggin River near Rams Island, and a vehicle later found abandoned at Center Bridge in Turner. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office is listed as the investigating agency, with agency case number 77-3496. In overview, Franklin Eugene Marston’s disappearance is a long-unsolved Maine missing person case centered on a brief final journey from home toward the river, a found vehicle, and decades of unanswered questions for those who knew him and for anyone still hoping the truth of what happened to him can be brought to light.Last Seen: Jul 31, 1977