Vernon Milton Gunlicks was 50 years old when he disappeared from Kearney, Nebraska, on July 6, 1964. He was described as a Caucasian man with brown hair and blue eyes, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 190 pounds, and he wore glasses. Public missing-person records identify his case as NamUs MP105768 and list Kearney in Buffalo County as the place of last contact.
The available public information does not list a case resolution status of alive or deceased, so the record remains presented as a missing-person case.
Vernon was not simply a name on a case file; he was tied to the working life of Kearney through Cash-Wa Candy Company. Cash-Wa’s own company history states that the business was founded in 1934 and that Harvey Henning and partner Vern Gunlicks purchased Cash-Wa Candy in 1957. By 1964, Vernon was described in missing-person materials as the manager and co-owner of Cashway Candy Co., a position that placed him in daily contact with customers, money collections, business calls, and the ordinary responsibilities of a local company.
On the morning of July 6, 1964, Vernon reportedly drove to a local bowling alley in Kearney at about 9:00 a.m. Missing-person summaries state that he had planned to make a deposit at a Kearney bank and had collected $1,500 from a customer at the bowling alley. According to the account preserved in public case materials, that customer told police he drove Vernon to the bank and never saw him again after that. Vernon never completed the deposit, and he did not return to his expected routine.
Later that same evening, Vernon’s vehicle was found parked across the street from the bowling alley. That detail left a painful and unresolved break in the timeline: he had arrived in the area, handled a business collection, was reportedly headed toward the bank, and then vanished. Public sources do not provide a confirmed explanation for what happened after that point, and they do not describe a recovery, a confirmed destination, or any later contact from Vernon. The absence of those answers has made the case especially difficult, because the known facts stop abruptly in the middle of what should have been a normal business morning.
The Kearney Police Department is listed as the investigating agency, and public missing-person materials associate the case with police case number 23-003669 and NamUs case number 105768. Decades after Vernon Gunlicks disappeared, the publicly available account remains centered on a small number of stark facts: a 50-year-old Kearney businessman, a planned bank deposit, a $1,500 collection at a bowling alley, a report that he was driven toward the bank, a vehicle found later near the bowling alley, and no confirmed sighting or contact afterward. In overview, Vernon Gunlicks’ case is the story of a man whose ordinary workday in Kearney ended in a disappearance that has left unanswered questions for his family, his community, and investigators.Last Seen: Jul 6, 1964
