Henry Young, a 90-year-old Black man known by the nickname “Sug,” was last seen in Jonestown, Mississippi, on July 23, 1990. He was described as having graying black hair and brown eyes, standing roughly 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing about 120 to 140 pounds. At the time, he lived and worked on the Alcorn Russell farm in Coahoma County, a place that appears to have been central to his everyday life. During the night, Young left his home in a distinctive vehicle: a dark blue 1976 Ford Maverick with a white top, a yellow driver’s-side fender, and Mississippi license plate 1DBP974. After that night, he was never heard from again.
The first known details surrounding his disappearance came from reports that witnesses had seen Young driving out of Jonestown with a 17-year-old female acquaintance in the car. That sighting became a major point of focus for investigators, because it suggested Young had not simply disappeared unnoticed, but may have left town in the company of someone he knew. According to publicly available case summaries, the teenager was questioned on August 7, 1990, and allegedly told authorities that she and a 15-year-old male accomplice had robbed Young at or near the Silver Saver grocery store in Tutwiler, Mississippi. She reportedly claimed that Young had been beaten to death on August 1, about a week after he was last seen.
Both teenagers were arrested and held in connection with Young’s alleged murder, but the investigation faced a painful and difficult problem: there was little physical evidence to support the statements, and neither Young’s body nor his car had been located at that time. Law enforcement searched for him using significant resources, including a helicopter, and they dragged Hopson Bayou along U.S. Highway 49, but those efforts did not find Young. The absence of his body, and the lack of evidence strong enough to support the allegations, left investigators without the proof needed to move forward against the teens.
On August 24, 1990, more than a month after Young vanished, his Ford Maverick was found near Friars Point, Mississippi, about 50 yards from the Mississippi River. The condition of the scene suggested the car may have been sitting there for some time; grass had grown high around it, and The Charley Project reports that grass had even grown into the vehicle. But Young was not found with the car. A few days later, investigators located items identified as Young’s shoes, car keys, and pants. Those discoveries deepened the concern that something tragic had happened, but they still did not provide the answers his loved ones and the community needed.
Without Young’s body, the case against the two teenagers could not be sustained, and they were released. Public missing-person sources continue to list Young’s case as unresolved, and the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons lists his case status as missing and repository status as open. His case remains one of an elderly man who left home during the night, was reportedly seen with a young acquaintance, became the subject of a troubling alleged confession, and was later connected to an abandoned car and scattered personal belongings near the Mississippi River. In overview, Henry Young disappeared from Jonestown, Mississippi, on July 23, 1990; his vehicle was later found near Friars Point, searches did not locate him, no confirmed recovery has been reported in the available online sources, and the circumstances of what happened to him remain unresolved.
Last Seen: Jul 23, 1990
