Mary Lang, 31 years old at the time of her disappearance, was last seen on October 21, 1983, in downtown Hays, Kansas. She had recently started a job as a legal secretary and was running work-related errands on the day she went missing. Around 1:00 p.m., she was spotted in the area, but she never returned. Her car, a maroon and gray 1977 Datsun, was found later that evening with the driver's door slightly ajar.
Inside the vehicle were her purse and legal papers, but there were no signs of struggle or clues to her whereabouts.
Five days later, searchers discovered her coat under a bridge northwest of Hays, with her car keys still in the pocket. Despite extensive searches and investigations, no additional trace of Mary was found. Over the years, investigators interviewed hundreds of individuals and followed various leads, but nothing substantial came of these efforts. Despite the bustling activity in Hays on that day, no witnesses reported seeing any abduction, leading to ongoing speculation about what might have happened.
Foul play is strongly suspected in Mary's case, and her family had her legally declared dead seven years after she vanished. A person of interest in her disappearance is Steven Carl Holdren, a man with a violent history who was in the area at the time. Holdren had been previously acquitted of a separate murder in 1977 but was convicted of aggravated kidnapping in 1985. Despite his proximity and criminal record, no concrete evidence linked him to Mary's disappearance, and he was never formally charged in her case. Holdren remained a figure of suspicion until his death in 2019.
In the years following Mary’s disappearance, skeletal remains found in Kansas raised hopes of closure for her family, but they were later identified as another woman, leaving the case unsolved. Mary's body has never been found, and her disappearance remains one of the enduring mysteries in Kansas.Last Seen: Oct 21, 1983
