Keith Tindale Missing Person Case

Dec 22, 2009

Jan 12, 2024

Keith

Tindale

64

21

72 inches

160 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

In the early summer of 1983, a young airman named Keith William Tindale vanished from Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, leaving behind a swirl of conflicting theories and unanswered questions. A Florida native, Tindale was known by his family as a bright and disciplined individual, a straight-A student who kept in regular contact with his mother and sister. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1980, eventually serving as a metal fabrications specialist in Louisiana. However, a shadow had fallen over his military career a year prior to his disappearance. In May 1982, Tindale took an unauthorized trip to Florida on a motorcycle which was later reported stolen. This act resulted in the confiscation of the bike and the looming threat of a court-martial, a serious matter that was still pending when he was last seen. The day before he went missing, on May 31, 1983, Keith Tindale's actions seemed to suggest a significant change was imminent. The 21-year-old withdrew $900 from his bank account, a considerable sum at the time. He also sold or simply gave away all of his personal possessions to fellow airmen. With some of the money, he purchased a different motorcycle. On June 1, he was seen leaving the base with two friends from the Air Force, reportedly on their way to go camping on the base's large East Reservation, an 18,000-acre wilderness area. Keith Tindale was never heard from or seen again after that day. His regular, clockwork-like calls to his mother ceased, as did the letters to his sister, deepening the family's concern. In the wake of his disappearance, two starkly different narratives emerged. The Air Force officially classified Tindale as a deserter, believing he had fled to escape the pending court-martial. Consequently, they did not conduct a criminal investigation or an extensive search of the vast reservation where he was supposedly headed. His family, however, has never believed he would have willingly abandoned his life and cut off all contact. They, along with some in civilian law enforcement, suspect foul play was involved. His mother has long held the belief that her son was murdered, his body possibly hidden within the sprawling wilderness he intended to camp in. A private investigator she hired proposed a theory that he may have been the victim of a robbery that turned fatal. Despite the passage of decades, the case remains a cold case, with Tindale listed as both a missing person and a wanted deserter, leaving his loved ones without closure.

Jun 01, 1983

Barksdale AFB

Louisiana

Bossier Parish

86594

Air Force Office of Special Investigations

Quantico

Virginia

Prince William County

22134

Russell-Knox Building, Virginia

8772461453

Federal

Law Enforcement

https://www.osi.af.mil/Home/Welcome/

AF-1668

Air Force Office of Special Investigations

7242

Brown

Blue

Blue

06/30/2026