Alfred Elmer Hoffman Marshal was a 17-year-old male teenager who vanished from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, on October 9, 1976, a fall evening that began with an ordinary date and became a decades-long absence for the people who loved him. Alfred, who was also known by the nickname Al, is described in missing-person records as a White male with brown hair and green eyes, standing about 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing roughly 160 pounds.
He may have used the last names Hoffman and Marshal together or separately. On the night he disappeared, he was reportedly wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. He was last seen with Teresa Joanna Gossage, also 17, after the two left in Alfred’s car at about 7:30 p.m. Both were students at Waynesville High School, and both were children of officers stationed at the Fort Leonard Wood Army base.
What followed was immediate and deeply unsettling. Alfred and Teresa did not come home, and they were never heard from again. The next day, Alfred’s car was found locked and abandoned on a side road in an isolated area of Fort Leonard Wood. The scene gave investigators few clear answers. Despite the cold weather, Alfred’s jacket was still in the backseat, and his hairbrush, which he reportedly never went anywhere without, was found in the console. Records note that there was no evidence of foul play at the vehicle, but the absence of obvious violence did not make the circumstances less alarming. Two teenagers had vanished from a military installation, leaving behind a locked car, personal belongings, and families who had no reason to believe they would simply disappear.
Investigators initially considered the possibility that Alfred and Teresa had run away, but that theory was not accepted by those close to them. Alfred had reportedly left about $1,000 in the bank, a significant amount for a 17-year-old, and he had plans that pointed toward a future he expected to live: a hunting trip with his father, a Christmas trip to Germany, and college. He was described as a good student. Those details matter because they show a young man connected to his family, his schooling, and his plans, not someone clearly preparing to leave his life behind. Teresa’s presence in the case also underscores how sudden the disappearance was; the two teens were together on what should have been a normal evening, and then both were gone without a trace.
The case later took on a darker context because of events at Fort Leonard Wood in January 1977, only months after Alfred and Teresa disappeared. Three teenagers were murdered there while out on a double date, and a fourth survived. Johnny Lee Thornton, a military police officer, was convicted and sentenced to three life terms plus twenty years in prison in connection with those crimes. The Charley Project reports that Thornton has been considered a suspect in Alfred and Teresa’s disappearances, in part because Alfred’s car was found abandoned not far from where the later victims’ bodies were dumped. However, no evidence has been found that ties Thornton to Alfred and Teresa’s disappearance, and the case remains unsolved.
Alfred’s disappearance remains classified as an endangered missing case, investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command. The available online case information does not indicate that Alfred has been found alive or located deceased, and no confirmed resolution is stated in the public records reviewed. The known story is therefore one of an ordinary teenage evening interrupted by an unexplained disappearance: 17-year-old Alfred Elmer Hoffman Marshal left Fort Leonard Wood with Teresa Gossage on October 9, 1976; their locked car was found the next day in an isolated area; personal belongings were left behind; early runaway theories were doubted by loved ones; a later Fort Leonard Wood murder case created a possible but unproven connection; and after all these years, Alfred and Teresa remain missing, with the central questions of where they went, what happened to them, and how their families can finally receive answers still unresolved.Last Seen: Oct 9, 1976
