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Case Description

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Paul McWherter, a 35-year-old man from Seattle, Washington, went missing on August 17, 1982. He left home early in the morning at around 2:30 a.m. to deliver newspapers but never returned. His vehicle was later found abandoned in a park, and no signs of McWherter were discovered at the scene. Despite investigations, there has been no significant progress in locating him.

McWherter's disappearance is one of many cold cases from the Seattle area that has puzzled investigators for dec ...Read More
Last Seen: Aug 17, 1982

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Victim Details

May 13, 2010

Jun 19, 2023

Paul

McWherter

77

35

68 inches

135 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

In the early morning hours of August 17, 1982, the city of Seattle, Washington, was still cloaked in darkness when 35-year-old Paul Steven McWherter set out for his job as a newspaper delivery man. At approximately 2:30 a.m., he left with the expectation of returning home after his route, a routine that was familiar to him. On this particular day, however, Mr. McWherter vanished. He was a Caucasian male, standing at five feet eight inches tall and weighing around 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. When he was last seen, he was believed to be wearing a sweatshirt, blue jeans, and red tennis shoes. The hours turned into a day, and when he did not come back, concerns for his welfare grew, prompting a report to be filed with the Seattle Police Department. The investigation into Paul McWherter's sudden disappearance began, and a significant clue was soon discovered, though it offered more questions than answers. His vehicle was located abandoned at a park, a detail that deepened the mystery surrounding his whereabouts. There was no sign of Mr. McWherter at the scene, nor any immediate indication of what might have transpired after he parked his car. The discovery shifted the focus of the investigation, leaving his family, friends, and law enforcement to grapple with a host of unsettling possibilities. The park, a place typically associated with community and recreation, became the last known location connected to him, a silent witness to a story with a missing final chapter. Decades have passed since Paul McWherter was last seen, yet his case remains unresolved, a lingering echo of a life interrupted. The initial report, filed on the very day he went missing, launched an enduring effort to uncover the truth. The circumstances of his disappearance—leaving for a routine job in the dead of night and his car being found in a park—provide a sparse but troubling outline of his last known movements. Without further evidence or witnesses coming forward, the narrative of what happened to Paul Steven McWherter on that August morning in 1982 is incomplete, leaving behind a painful and prolonged uncertainty for those who knew and cared for him. The case is an overview of a man who seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving only a few poignant details and an absence that has spanned the years.

Aug 17, 1982

Seattle

Washington

King County

98118

No

8550

Seattle Police Department

Seattle

Washington

King County

98104

610 5th Avenue, Washington

2066255011

Local

Law Enforcement

82-337972

1982-08-17

Seattle Police Department

Black

Brown

Brown

06/17/2026


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