Richard Eugene Dale Hitchcock, known as Richie or Ritchie, was 21 when he disappeared from Allegan, Michigan, in the early morning hours of December 22, 1990. He was last seen leaving the Riverfront Lounge on Water Street around 2:30 a.m. after becoming intoxicated and being escorted outside. Witnesses reported an altercation that night and said Richard climbed an eight-foot fence topped with barbed wire near the Kalamazoo River; some said a group of men confronted him before that, but the sequence and reliability of those accounts remain uncertain.

A few days after he vanished his car was found and impounded from a nearby parking lot with Christmas presents still inside; his keys and a distinctive clear epoxy keychain with a molded scorpion were missing and have never been recovered. Richard was not reported missing until December 28. He was described as about 6 feet tall, 135 pounds, with bushy red or auburn hair, blue eyes, and several possible scars; he was not wearing his contact lenses the night he disappeared. Extensive searches of the Kalamazoo River and surrounding areas turned up no trace, and investigators and family have grown doubtful that accidental drowning explains his disappearance.

Does anyone have information about Richard’s last night in downtown Allegan or recall seeing him after he left the Riverfront Lounge?