Account
Jun 08, 2014
Jan 04, 2024
Ruth
Loader
109
79
62 inches
102 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the late summer of 1994, 79-year-old Ruth Lucille Loader was looking forward to returning to her own home in Port Washington, Ohio. She had been staying with her daughter while recovering from colon cancer surgery and was finally feeling well enough to spend the night in her own house. On the evening of August 29, 1994, she left her daughter's residence, planning to have breakfast with her sister the following morning. However, when her sister arrived for their breakfast engagement, Ruth didn't answer the door. Her daughter and son-in-law later went to her home and discovered disturbing signs of a struggle; the back door frame was splintered, her glasses were on her pillow, and a red telephone cord was missing, leading them to believe she had been abducted. Witnesses reported seeing Ruth's red 1989 Buick Skylark being driven in the nearby town of Newcomerstown on the night she disappeared. The driver was described as a 22-year-old man named Lewis Eugene Gilbert II, who had recently been released from prison. Authorities soon determined that a 16-year-old, Eric Alvin Elliott, was with Gilbert. This marked the beginning of a multi-state crime spree. Two days after Ruth's abduction, her car was found abandoned in Fulton County, Missouri, near the home of an elderly couple, William and Flossie Brewer, who had been murdered. Their vehicle had been stolen, and the investigation into their deaths was linked to Ruth's disappearance. The crime spree continued, and on September 4, the body of another victim, Roxy Lynn Ruddell, was discovered in Oklahoma. The Brewers' car was found near that crime scene, and Ruddell's truck was missing. The manhunt for Gilbert and Elliott ended on September 6, when they were captured in New Mexico. Following their apprehension, Lewis Gilbert eventually confessed to murdering Ruth Loader. He stated that after he and Elliott abducted her, they tied her up with the phone cord and put her in the trunk of her car. According to Gilbert, at some point while they were driving on back roads, she told them, "You might as well kill me because I have cancer." He claimed they then killed her and discarded her body on the side of a road. Gilbert even drew a map that supposedly led to her remains, but searches based on this information were unsuccessful. No one has ever been charged in Ruth's death, and her body has never been found. Lewis Gilbert was executed in 2003 for the murder of Roxy Lynn Ruddell, and Eric Elliott is serving a life sentence for his role in the crimes. The disappearance of Ruth Loader remains a painful mystery for her family, who are left without the closure of laying her to rest.
Aug 29, 1994
Port Washington
Ohio
Tuscarawas County
43837
15378
Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office
New Philadelphia
Ohio
,
9408499
Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office
Gray or Partially Gray
Blue
Blue
06/03/2026
