Account
Dec 13, 2010
Jun 19, 2023
Richard
Lawrence
102
63
60 inches
125 lbs
Black / African American
Male
In the winter of 1986, 63-year-old Richard Emanuel Lawrence, a male resident of Portland, Oregon, vanished while attending a church function in Tacoma, Washington. On February 28th, he and his wife had traveled to Tacoma for a three-day meeting of the Pacific Northwest District Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. Richard, who served as a district elder for the church, left their motel, the Apple Inn, around 5:00 p.m. to get gasoline for his car and never came back. Compounding the concern was Richard's recent health issues; he had suffered a heart attack the previous year, wore a pacemaker, and had been experiencing episodes of memory loss. In the weeks leading up to his disappearance, he had reportedly gotten lost while driving in both his hometown of Portland and again in Tacoma the day before he went missing. He was last seen wearing a black knee-length fur-type coat, a white shirt with a tie, a black Russian-style hat, and size 5 black dress shoes. He also wore black-rimmed glasses with a prescription lens in the right eye and plain glass in the left. For two months, there was no sign of Richard. Then, on April 28, 1986, his truck was discovered abandoned on a remote logging road in Vader, Washington, approximately eighty miles south of Tacoma. The vehicle was out of gas. Inside, investigators found a copy of the Oregonian newspaper dated February 28, the day he disappeared. On the newspaper was a handwritten note that read, "Will pick up car tonight or tomorrow." An extensive search of the dense woods surrounding the location of the truck yielded no clues as to Richard's whereabouts. During the investigation, two witnesses came forward, stating they had seen a man matching his description on the logging road on February 28. According to the witnesses, the man did not appear to be in any distress or in need of assistance. The discovery of the truck and the note only deepened the mystery of what happened to Richard Lawrence. Authorities theorized that he may have been trying to drive home to Portland, became lost, and ran out of fuel. His wife held onto the hope that he may have accepted a ride from a passing motorist and been taken from the area. However, a private investigator hired by the family believed he likely succumbed to the elements somewhere within a five-mile radius of where his car was found. Despite the various theories, no conclusive evidence ever surfaced to explain his disappearance. The official search efforts were ultimately exhausted without finding him. The case of Richard Emanuel Lawrence remains an unsolved missing person case, a story of a man who traveled for a church gathering and vanished, leaving behind only perplexing clues and a family without answers. In 1987, Richard Emanuel Lawrence was declared legally dead.
Feb 28, 1986
Tacoma
Washington
Pierce County
No
9409
Tacoma Police Department
Tacoma
Washington
Pierce County
98409
3701 South Pine Street, Washington
2535915950
Local
Law Enforcement
86-197 0451
Tacoma Police Department
Black
Brown
Brown
06/13/2026
