Jeffrey Dean Blankinship was three years old when he and his mother, Althea, were last seen on March 27, 1973, in Port Townsend, Washington. They were reportedly to fly from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to New York and then on to Greece to join Althea’s parents, but there are no airline records showing either of them boarded those flights. Family concern grew after Althea’s frequent letters to her mother stopped; their roommate, Glenn Allan Bagley, said he had driven them to the airport.

In 2001 family members found Althea’s passport at her parents’ home with no travel stamps, a detail that undermines the account that they left the country. Investigators later focused on Bagley, who corresponded with Althea and became a prime suspect; he moved to the Philippines after 1976 and died of cancer in February 2016. No resolution has been reached and foul play is suspected.