Kenneth Dean Smith was 24 when he left Allenton, Michigan, in a green 1974 Ford van converted for living. The last contact with his family was a letter dated December 20, 1974, sent from Arizona; he wrote that he had arrived at the Grand Canyon, was looking for work, and planned to travel next to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Pima County and possibly on to California. He had brown collar-length hair, a full beard, blue eyes, and wore rimless eyeglasses.

The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation after he disappeared, but the case grew cold. In March 2013 a National Park Service pilot spotted vehicle debris about 850 feet below the Grand Canyon rim between the Coconino and Redwall layers. A license plate recovered at the wreck matched Kenneth’s Michigan plate PXC954, confirming the van belonged to him. A detailed search of the wreckage and area found no human remains and did not explain how the van came to be so far below the rim.

What can readers who knew Kenneth or who have information about travel through the Grand Canyon area in late 1974 add to help fill the gaps?