In the spring of 1990, a cloud of uncertainty settled over the small community of Dante, Virginia, with the disappearance of 32-year-old Rodney Lynn Kiser. A former Dickenson County sheriff's deputy, Rodney was last seen on April 26, 1990. At the time, he was managing the H&G Market in Trammel, a business owned by his brother. Rodney lived a quiet life in a mobile home on Hazel Mountain, not far from his mother and sister. He also owned another property down the road which housed a second mobile home, a storage building, and several old cars he enjoyed working on. It was in the direction of this second property that his sister last saw him driving. Concern for his welfare grew when he failed to show up for work and could not be located. His girlfriend told his family that he had left for a trip to his brother's home in Alexandria, but he never arrived, and his brother had not been expecting him.
The mystery deepened about a week later, on May 4, 1990, when Rodney's tan 1983 Dodge Ram pickup truck was discovered parked at his old property. The scene was unsettling and out of character for the cautious former deputy; the keys were left in the ignition and the driver's side window was partially rolled down. Inside the truck, investigators found a small case containing his checkbook, cash, and food stamps from his store's deposit. However, the. 357 Magnum handgun he was known to always carry with him was missing and has never been recovered. The search for answers led investigators to the mobile home on the property, where they found what appeared to be traces of blood smeared near the rear entrance. Despite this discovery, it was never definitively determined if the blood belonged to Rodney Kiser.
Decades have passed since Rodney Kiser vanished, and his case has grown cold, leaving his family with unanswered questions. There has been no activity on his bank accounts since his disappearance. Over the years, some evidence related to his case has been lost, and attempts to perform successful DNA testing on the remaining items have been fruitless. His family holds the painful belief that he was murdered inside his old trailer. The investigation into Rodney Kiser's disappearance has been hampered by the passage of time and a lack of new leads. No one has ever been charged in connection with the case, which remains an unsolved and enduring mystery in southwest Virginia.Last Seen: Apr 26, 1990
