Fred William Conklin was 30 when he vanished from Tucson in the summer of 1993 after spending a day with his five-year-old son — a movie and a trip to a toy store were the last confirmed time family saw him. Contact with Conklin ceased after that June or July outing, and the case sat cold for three years.

In May 1996 a tip moved the investigation toward Conklin’s roommate, Jeffrey Davis, alleging Conklin was killed inside their home on west Picture Rocks Road after an argument about money and drugs. Investigators say Davis shot Conklin in the back. Davis was arrested in March 1997 and tried for murder in early 1998 despite no body being recovered.

Prosecution witnesses testified they helped bury Conklin and that Davis later confessed to moving the remains. The jury convicted Davis of first-degree murder after about three hours of deliberation. Extensive searches, including mine shafts in the Silver Bell Mountains, did not locate Conklin’s body, and his remains have never been found.

If anyone knew Fred, his movements in Tucson that summer, or anything about west Picture Rocks Road in 1993–1996, please come forward with information.