Darin Wade Crocker was a 22-year-old white male from Maine when he was last known to have contact on September 6, 1990, after leaving New Harbor in the town of Bristol, Lincoln County. Public missing-person records list him as 6 feet 1 inch tall and about 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. NamUs identifies the case as Missing Person / NamUs #MP53326 and lists the investigating agency as the Maine Marine Patrol - Augusta Headquarters, with the agency case number 90-0906 and a report
date of September 11, 1990. The case record also notes personal identifiers that could help distinguish him, including yellowed teeth from smoking, birthmarks near his left ankle and on his right cheek, a scar on his lower back, and a scar above his right eye. He was reportedly wearing a red large T-shirt, pants sized 36/34, black-and-white sneakers, and a gold wedding ring engraved with “I love you 07/25/1987.”
The trip began as a working voyage from the small harbor community of New Harbor. Darin and his brother Kevin Crocker departed aboard the North Wind, described in public records as a stern dragger, for what was expected to be a four- to five-day fishing trip. The available information does not describe any confirmed emergency call from the boat, but it does say that attempts to make contact on September 7 and again on September 9 were unsuccessful. Those failed contact attempts became the first clear signs that something had gone wrong at sea, turning an ordinary fishing trip into a desperate uncertainty for the Crocker family and for the people who knew the brothers along Maine’s coast.
On September 10, 1990, another vessel reportedly observed a large fuel spill on the water. The following day, that vessel recovered a body, later identified as Kevin Crocker. The circumstances recorded in public missing-person summaries indicate that the North Wind is believed to have sunk for unknown reasons on September 7, 1990. Darin was not recovered with his brother, and the publicly available case information does not provide a confirmed explanation for why the vessel sank. The known details leave the tragedy suspended between a few stark facts: the brothers left together, contact failed soon afterward, a fuel spill was seen, Kevin was found, and Darin remained missing.
Darin and Kevin are also remembered in public memorial records connected to Maine fishermen lost at sea. A Fishermen’s Memorial plaque listing men lost off the Maine coast includes “September, 1990 Kevin D. Crocker, 27 Darin W. Crocker, 22,” and states that the brothers were lost aboard the North Wind out of New Harbor. A Find a Grave memorial for Darin Wade Crocker likewise identifies him as the son of William W. Crocker and Dollie L. Morton and repeats the memorial language honoring the Crocker brothers among “the proud independent Maine fishermen who lost their lives at sea.” These memorial references show how the case has been carried not only as a missing-person file, but also as part of the wider history of Maine fishing families who endured sudden loss on the water.
The Crocker family’s loss extended across decades in public family notices. William “Bill” Crocker’s 2023 obituary stated that he and his wife, Dollie, returned to Maine to build their home and raise four children, and that he was predeceased by three sons, including Kevin and Darin in September 1990. That later family record gives a quiet glimpse of the human weight behind the official case file: Darin was not only a name in a database or on a maritime memorial, but a son, a brother, and a young man whose life was tied to his family and the working waters of coastal Maine.
The case remains publicly documented through NamUs, the national centralized repository used for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases, and Maine authorities direct missing-person information through official state and NamUs channels. In overview, Darin Wade Crocker’s case began on September 6, 1990, when he and his brother Kevin left New Harbor aboard the North Wind for a short fishing trip; within days, contact attempts failed, a fuel spill was discovered, Kevin was recovered, and the available circumstances indicated the vessel had sunk for reasons still described as unknown. Darin’s case endures as a solemn maritime missing-person case from Lincoln County, Maine, marked by grief, uncertainty, and the lasting hope that every remaining unanswered question may someday be met with resolution.Last Seen: Sep 6, 1990
