On May 3, 1968, eight-year-old David William Adams vanished while walking home from a friend's house in Issaquah, Washington. A third-grade student at Clark Elementary School, David had recently moved to a home on Southeast Tiger Mountain Road with his family. That afternoon, after getting off the school bus, he went to play at a friend's house nearby. When his mother called to tell him to come home for dinner, he started on the familiar shortcut trail but never arrived. He was last seen wearing a green and brown plaid shirt, jeans, and high-top shoes.
In the days that followed David's disappearance, a massive search effort was launched, with over 1,000 people combing the rugged terrain of Tiger Mountain. Despite the extensive search involving dogs, no trace of the young boy was ever found. Initially, authorities considered several possibilities, including that David may have fallen into an old mine shaft or been the victim of a cougar attack. However, as time went on with no evidence to support these theories, the focus of the investigation shifted to the belief that he was abducted. Hours after he was reported missing, two witnesses reported seeing a small boy matching David's description walking alone late at night along the Enumclaw-Auburn Highway, but they did not realize at the time that a child was missing.
Years later, in 2009, the King County Sheriff's Office's cold case unit reopened David's case. Their investigation centered on a former neighbor who was 20 years old at the time of David's disappearance and was believed to be the last person to have seen him. Tracker dogs had reportedly traced David's scent to this man's home during the initial search. Investigators noted that the man was evasive during questioning, lacked a solid alibi, and failed a polygraph test. Despite being a person of interest for many years, the man, who later moved to Lewis County, has always maintained his innocence and has never been charged in connection with the disappearance. The case of David Adams remains the oldest unsolved child abduction in Washington state, a deeply sorrowful mystery that has endured for decades.
Last Seen: May 03, 1968
