Boyd Dale Stearns, a 38-year-old contractor, was reported missing by his wife on September 4, 1979 after leaving for work that morning and never returning. His pickup truck was later found in the woods on Dirlam Road in rural Wood County; a hunter first noticed tire tracks on September 8 and checked the vehicle on September 20, identifying Stearns from paperwork and notifying the sheriff’s office.

On October 1, 1979 a township worker mowing weeds along a creek bank near Greensburg Pike, a little over two miles south of Stearns’ home on Sand Ridge Road near Bowling Green, discovered his partially decomposed body. He was found lying face down, wearing only his underwear. An autopsy determined he had been shot in the back and a small bullet fragment was recovered.

No arrests have been made and the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office and the Wood County Sheriff’s Office continue to seek information. Does anyone have information about Stearns, his movements in early September 1979, or who might have had contact with him that week?