John Shaffer Missing Person Case

Jan 01, 1970

Jan 01, 1970

John

Shaffer

56

White / Caucasian

Male

On a late September day in 1984, 56-year-old John J. Shaffer vanished from Penn Yan, New York. He was last seen on September 28, 1984, departing from the Penn Yan Airport in a privately-owned aircraft. The plane, a 1965 Cessna Model 150 with tail number N4245U, was described as being green and silver with a single propeller. From that moment on, both John Shaffer and the aircraft he was piloting seemingly disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a profound and lingering mystery. The circumstances surrounding John Shaffer's disappearance are centered entirely on his final flight from the regional airport in Yates County. There have been no reports of communication from him after his takeoff, and no wreckage of the Cessna has ever been located. The complete absence of any evidence following his departure has made this a particularly difficult case for investigators. The lack of debris, emergency signals, or any subsequent sightings has left his family, friends, and law enforcement with very few leads to follow. Decades have passed since John Shaffer's last flight, and his case remains an unsolved missing person investigation. The immense challenge of searching for a small aircraft that could have gone down in any number of remote or undisclosed locations has been a significant barrier to resolving the case. The enduring questions of what happened on that September day—whether it was a tragic accident, an intentional disappearance, or something else entirely—continue to haunt those who knew him and the community he left behind. The investigation, led by the Yates County Sheriff's Office, is a poignant reminder of the uncertainty that can shroud such cases, leaving a family without answers and a community with a story of a man who flew into the sky and never returned.

Sep 28, 1984

Penn Yan

New York

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09/08/2026