Kipling Hess III, known as Kip, was 12 when he vanished from Merritt Island, Florida, on the morning of March 27, 1979, while walking to school. A note left at home reading Goodbye, Mom and Dad deepened the mystery; he never arrived at school and was never seen again. No body has been recovered.

A convicted murderer named John Rodney McRae became a prime suspect. McRae had served 20 years for the 1950s murder of an 8-year-old in Michigan, later moved to Florida and worked as a juvenile detention officer. He had met Kip at a church carnival shortly before the disappearance, joined search efforts, and investigators found a missing-person flyer for Kip taped inside McRae’s locker. No direct evidence ever tied McRae to Kip’s disappearance, and McRae maintained his innocence; he was later convicted of another Michigan murder and died in prison without providing information about Kip.

The case remains unsolved. Anyone who knew Kip, his routine, or who has information about contacts between Kip and McRae is asked to come forward.