Russ Rolnick was 26 when he disappeared from Coconut Grove, Florida, on February 24, 1984. He and a friend, Alan Hirsch, spent the evening at Monty Trainer’s restaurant and left on a 16-foot ski boat around 6 p.m. They reported trouble with the engine and lights and ran out of gas shortly after leaving. The men paddled to a nearby gas station, where Rolnick called his ex-girlfriend and said he would be home by dark. Neither man nor the boat was heard from again after that call.

Searches covering thousands of miles across the Atlantic and the Caribbean turned up no trace of Rolnick, Hirsch, or the vessel. Rolnick’s black 1979 Datsun 280Z was later found parked near a waterfront restaurant. Family and investigators noted that Rolnick’s drug use had increased in the months before his disappearance, a factor mentioned in case accounts. Was anyone in the area that night aware of a small ski boat or two men in distress?