On a spring day in April of 1981, 83-year-old Maurice "Doc" Dametz, a male from the Castle Rock, Colorado area, ventured into the Pike National Forest with a friend, David McSherry, for a day of collecting rocks. The two men, both avid rockhounds, were specifically searching for topaz in the Devil's Head area. Due to his advanced age and some health issues, including arthritis in his knees, Dametz relied on his friend's assistance to get to a suitable digging spot. McSherry helped his friend get settled and then found his own spot to dig approximately 50 yards away. The day was April 29, 1981, and it would be the last time anyone reported seeing Maurice Dametz. He was wearing a white baseball cap, a maroon plaid flannel shirt, blue overalls, and brown ankle-high work boots.
After a couple of hours of digging, around 3 p.m., McSherry went to check on Dametz and let him know they would be leaving soon. McSherry then returned to his own spot to pack up his tools. When he went back for Dametz just a short time later, he was gone. A search of the immediate area proved fruitless. McSherry eventually flagged down a passing motorist on Rampart Range Road for help, and by 11 p.m. that night, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office had been notified and search and rescue teams were on the scene. An extensive five-day search of the rugged terrain commenced, but despite the efforts of search teams and the use of search dogs, not a single clue as to Dametz's whereabouts was found. The dogs were unable to even pick up a scent.
The complete lack of evidence in Dametz's disappearance has left his case a perplexing mystery for over four decades. There were no signs of a struggle or any indication of what might have happened to the elderly man. In the months following his disappearance, his wife, Myrtle, wrote to the governor of Colorado expressing her belief that her husband may have met with foul play or been taken from the area. This theory, however, could not be substantiated. The fact that his credit cards were never used after he went missing further deepens the mystery. The overview of the case is that an elderly man, last seen by his friend in a remote area of a national forest, vanished without a trace, leaving behind no clues to his fate. The investigation remains open, but the passage of time has made the chances of finding answers increasingly slim.
Last Seen: Apr 29, 1981
