Donald Rexroth Missing Person Case

May 30, 2017

Feb 16, 2022

Donald

Rexroth

70

23

66 inches

155 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

On a cold spring night in Marquette County, Michigan, 23-year-old U.S. Air Force Sergeant Donald Curtis Rexroth vanished from the K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base. It was the evening of May 3, 1979, and Rexroth was with his wife cleaning another couple's military quarters on the base. According to his wife, he was intoxicated, depressed, and argumentative that night. After an argument, he walked away from the quarters on foot, wearing only a white thermal top, blue jeans, and tennis shoes, despite the near-freezing temperatures. That was the last time he was ever seen alive. The following day, he was officially reported missing. The initial investigation into Donald's disappearance was met with challenges. In the days following his disappearance, the base underwent a major cleaning, which military officials claimed would have washed away any scent trails, making it impossible to use tracking dogs. A month later, in June 1979, the Air Force declared Rexroth a deserter, a classification that shocked his parents who were not notified until the following year. His family and friends were certain that foul play was involved, insisting that he would never have left without saying goodbye. Donald's mother worried that his work as a bomber navigation specialist, which involved highly classified information, may have led to his disappearance. For decades, the case remained cold, a painful mystery for his loved ones. Then, in the fall of 2017, hunters discovered human remains in a wooded area near the former base in Skandia Township. An Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) cold case detective, who had reopened Donald's case that same year, suspected the remains could be his. In July 2019, after two years of working to match DNA from the remains with that of Donald's family members, it was confirmed that the remains belonged to Sergeant Donald Rexroth. Following the identification, an 18-person team, including personnel from AFOSI, Michigan State Police, and the Marquette County Sheriff's Office, conducted a four-day search of the area where the remains were found, discovering additional remains and personal items belonging to Donald. While the discovery of his remains brought some measure of closure to his family, it also confirmed their long-held belief that his death was not accidental. Investigators suspect foul play in Donald's death, and the case remains an active investigation, a search for answers to what happened to the young airman who disappeared into the cold Michigan night so many years ago.

May 04, 1979

K. I. Sawyer AFB

Michigan

Marquette County

33604

Air Force Office of Special Investigations

Quantico

Virginia

Prince William County

22134

John Fine

Chief, Cold Case Team Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) AFOSI-Center, Quantico, VA

Russell-Knox Building, Virginia

8772461453

Federal

Law Enforcement

https://www.osi.af.mil/Home/Welcome/

ICON-D-085-A--33298151621

Air Force Office of Special Investigations

Brown

Brown

Brown

07/12/2026