Alvin Edwin Matlock, known as Bud, was 21 and an Army veteran when he disappeared from his Brownes Mountain cabin in Spokane County, Washington, in the spring of 1951. The exact date is uncertain but believed to be around March 1, 1951. His family did not realize anything was wrong until he failed to show up for Thanksgiving that November; his mother found the cabin empty and both his vehicles gone.

For a time the family was told he had moved to Alaska, and his younger brother Clyde, then 12, hoped that was true. Over the years, rumors emerged that Matlock had been involved in an affair and was shot during a confrontation, but that story was never confirmed and no arrests were made because his body was never found. The family has submitted DNA samples in hopes that remains might eventually be identified.

Anyone with information about Alvin Matlock’s last known movements on Brownes Mountain or about the rumors from 1951 is asked to come forward.