I was very close to some people who shared stories that people in their married families talked about- a well known drug dealer was rumored to have the remains buried in his Pennsylvania Ave apartment basement area, he was also supposed to have been tossed in a well in Kinzua Dam area, and several other stories. Me and someone else that I associated with back in 2012 talked extensively about the things we had heard and called in to the missing persons people to let them know what we had heard. At the time, that apartment had had mass police activity and when i talked to someone at the missing persons hotline, she stated "I dont know what they would find, unless they found his head". This was a few years BEFORE he was declared dead. When I asked her what that meant and did they find the rest of his body, she no longer wanted to talk to me about the case. I have two names that I think are involved and I think this because one of them openly talked to several people about their involvement.
Thank you for sharing this. Rumors like these are hard to sort through, but in a case that has gone unsolved for this long, even secondhand information can matter, especially if multiple people heard similar details from different sources.
If you believe you know who may have been involved, or if one of those people allegedly talked about their involvement to others, that is exactly the kind of information that should go directly to Warren Police or Warren County Crime Stoppers. Names, locations, dates, who said what, who else heard it, and how the information traveled are all important.
The Pennsylvania Avenue apartment basement rumor and the Kinzua Dam/well story are both very specific, so even if they turned out to be wrong, investigators may still want to know who was spreading those stories and why. Sometimes rumors are just rumors, but sometimes they come from someone trying to brag, misdirect, intimidate people, or test whether others know something.
The comment you mentioned from the hotline is disturbing, but it is also possible the person was reacting to information they could not discuss, speculation they had heard before, or something that was not meant to be interpreted literally. Either way, I can understand why that would stay with you.
If you still have the two names, I hope you call them in again, especially since the case remains open. I would include everything you remember, even if it feels messy or secondhand: the names, nicknames, addresses, who told you, when you heard it, who else was present, and whether anyone is still alive who heard the person allegedly admit involvement. Damien’s family deserves answers, and after all these years, a small detail from someone who thought they were only repeating an old rumor could still be the thing that helps.
Damien Mark Sharp, 22, disappeared from Warren, Pennsylvania, over Memorial Day weekend 2002. An Army veteran who liked bands such as Pantera and Nine Inch Nails, he had a knee injury that required aluminum crutches. On the evening of May 25, 2002, he left his Cedar Street apartment carrying a black backpack and his crutches, was driven by a friend to a Prospect Street residence, stayed about an hour, then left and was not definitively seen again. His mother last spoke with him on May 24; roommates raised concerns a few days later and she filed a missing persons report on June 3, 2002.
Initial land and water searches of nearby camping areas produced no leads. Authorities reclassified the case as a presumed homicide in March 2003; the case overview does not specify what evidence prompted that change. Damien had a large Egyptian Ankh tattoo on his chest. He was declared legally dead in October 2018, and the investigation remains open with a reward offered for information leading to his remains or an arrest.
Does anyone who lived in Warren in 2002 or knew places Damien frequented have information that could help resolve what happened to him?
