On January 11, 1983, a 19-year-old male named Richard Wayne Sammons vanished from Mesa, Arizona. Three days later, on January 14, his parents received a call from his fiancée, concerned that no one had been able to get in touch with him. Prompted by this alarming news, his parents went to his apartment to check on him. Upon arrival, they found his residence to be neat and orderly, with no signs of a struggle or any indication of foul play.
Curiously, all of his personal belongings, including his vehicle, money, checkbook, and clothing, had been left behind.
The circumstances surrounding Richard's disappearance were puzzling to both his family and investigators. He was described as being 6'6" tall and weighing 180 pounds, with strawberry blonde, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. He had several distinguishing characteristics, including a missing tip on his right index finger, a previously broken right arm, and a scar below one of his knees. Authorities interviewed several individuals in connection with his case, but each person claimed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts or what might have happened to him. The lack of evidence or any clear leads left his loved ones with unanswered questions for a very long time.
For many years, the case of Richard Sammons remained a mystery. However, official reports later confirmed that he was found deceased. In April 1984, human remains, specifically a cranium, were discovered in a rural area of Pinal County, Arizona. Despite the discovery, it would be decades before a positive identification could be made. In July 2025, those remains were officially identified as belonging to Richard Wayne Sammons. The cause of his death was listed as undetermined. The investigation into his disappearance revealed no signs of foul play at his apartment, and his personal belongings were left behind, deepening the mystery of what led to his untimely death. After years of uncertainty, the discovery and eventual identification of his remains brought a close to his missing person case, though the full circumstances of his death remain unclear.Last Seen: Jan 11, 1983
