Howard Frederick Kley, a 53-year-old senior engineer for Shell Oil from San Francisco, disappeared while on a business trip to Coos Bay, Oregon. The last confirmed sighting was around midnight on Thursday, January 27, 1966, in the Starlight Room of the Chandler Hotel. He and colleagues had checked into the Dunes Motel on Bayshore Drive and eaten at the Skyroom Restaurant; when his associates returned to the motel Howard said he would join them later and was seen talking with several women. His motel bed was found unused and his luggage remained, and he never arrived with his colleagues in Seattle.

Howard was married with two grown daughters in Lafayette, California. He was described as a white male with graying brown hair, blue eyes, a crooked healed left index finger, a large scar on his left thumb, a small black spot on his lower lip, and he wore reading glasses and smoked Chesterfield or L&M cigarettes. His family has long believed he is deceased but have continued to seek answers, including returning to Coos Bay to post flyers. Few definitive leads emerged and the circumstances of his disappearance remain unresolved.

If anyone knew Howard, saw him in Coos Bay that night, or has information about his movements after leaving the Chandler Hotel, please come forward.