Keith Reinhard, a 49-year-old sports writer from Illinois, disappeared from Silver Plume, Colorado after telling several people on August 7, 1988 that he planned to hike to the top of Pendleton Mountain. He had taken a 90-day leave to write and sell photographs in a small shop there and had been researching the earlier disappearance of bookseller Tom Young, who had vanished from the same storefront the previous year.

Reinhard was last seen around 4:30 to 5:00 p.m., wearing casual clothing and gym shoes, reportedly not in peak physical condition and with a known fear of heights. A large search was mounted the next day; helicopters, search dogs and hundreds of volunteers logged more than 10,000 man-hours without finding him, and the official search was later suspended. A pilot died when his plane crashed during the effort.

Young and his dog had been found a week before Reinhard’s disappearance; both died of gunshot wounds to the head and Young’s death was ruled a suicide. Reinhard’s unfinished novel included a final entry about a character walking into the Colorado forest, a detail that mirrors his last known movements. No definitive explanation has been found for what happened to Reinhard.

If anyone knew Keith, his routines in Silver Plume, or saw him near Pendleton Mountain on August 7, 1988, please share what might help explain his disappearance?