In the winter of 1987, a 23-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran named Dwayne Edwin Martin vanished from North Little Rock, Arkansas, leaving behind a family searching for answers. Known to his friends and family as 'Duke,' and to his Marine platoon as 'Spiderman,' Dwayne was at a transitional phase in his life, having recently been discharged from the military.
On December 11, the day he was last seen, Dwayne went to his job at a diner called Rob's Place in the neighboring city of Sherwood. He visited the diner twice that day; first to pick up and cash his paycheck of $148, and later to work his scheduled shift. His mother would later recall this as the last day she saw her son, a day that would stretch into decades of uncertainty and pain for his family.
The evening of December 11, 1987, concluded what seemed to be a normal workday for Dwayne. At approximately 10:00 p.m., he left Rob's Place, but he was not alone; he was seen leaving with an unidentified individual. After his departure from work, reports indicated that he was seen in the vicinity of the Shorter Garden Apartment complex on North Beech Street in North Little Rock. This location was about a mile from his home on Elm Street. After that sighting, Dwayne Martin was never seen or heard from again. His mother, Brenda Brown, reported him missing days later, noting that it was highly uncharacteristic of him to leave without contacting his family. The silence that followed his disappearance was a stark contrast to his presence, leaving a void for those who knew him.
For many years, Dwayne Martin's case grew cold, a painful and unresolved chapter for his loved ones. After nearly three decades of dormancy, the North Little Rock Police Department reopened the investigation, treating his disappearance as a possible homicide. Investigators have considered that his case may have been drug-related, though details remain scarce. His mother has carried the weight of his absence, haunted by a phrase he used to say: 'We are born to die.' The investigation into what happened to Dwayne Edwin Martin remains open. His departure from work with an unknown person and his last known sighting at an apartment complex are the final markers in a timeline that abruptly ended, leaving a lingering mystery and a family still hoping for closure.Last Seen: Dec 11, 1987
