On a summer day in July of 1996, 79-year-old Abraham 'Abe' Maloof Kalaf, a male of Lebanese descent, began a journey from Tucson, Arizona, that he would never complete. He was heading to a drilling job site situated between the historic towns of Tombstone and Gleason. Kalaf, the owner of Venture Drilling Company, had planned to stay at the Adobe Lodge motel in Tombstone that evening but never arrived.
He was last seen wearing a tangerine-colored golf shirt, khaki pants, 'Reebok' athletic shoes, and a gray 'Sandvik' baseball cap. Known to often wear a turquoise bolo tie and trifocal glasses with gold frames, he was described as being between 5'7' and 5'9' tall, weighing around 180 to 190 pounds, with gray, balding hair and brown eyes. A long surgical scar on his back was a notable distinguishing feature.
The months that followed his disappearance offered a significant but grim discovery. In October 1996, three months after he was last seen, Kalaf's 1989 silver and black Dodge Ram pickup truck was found abandoned. The vehicle was discovered stuck in a small ravine in a rugged, mountainous area about 17 miles from his intended drilling site near Gleeson Road. Inside the truck were his personal belongings and uncashed paychecks for his employees, suggesting his disappearance was not planned. Investigators found plastic flagging tape leading northeast from his truck, indicating that Kalaf may have tried to mark a trail. It appeared he had walked towards the Dragoon Mountains, away from civilization.
Despite extensive searches of the area where the truck and flagging tape were found, no further signs of Abraham Kalaf have ever been located. The trail of tape eventually ended, leaving investigators with no further leads to follow. Described as a well-educated and soft-spoken man, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain a mystery. The leading theory is that he may have experienced a medical emergency or become disoriented in the challenging terrain after his truck got stuck. His case is still considered an unsolved missing person's case, leaving his family and community without answers.Last Seen: Jul 24, 1996
