Gene Isaac Stees was 31 and an assistant professor at Ohio University when he killed his 30-year-old wife Helen on October 20, 1962. According to the record, he bludgeoned her with a crowbar, placed a plastic bag over her head, and confessed to concealing her body in a metal drum that he submerged in Dow Lake. A jury convicted Stees of murder in February 1963 and recommended mercy, resulting in a life sentence.

While serving at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Stees reportedly became a model inmate and worked in the records office wearing khaki similar to civilian staff. On February 21, 1970, he walked out of the prison and disappeared. A delayed headcount and a three-day lag before notifying the Ohio State Police hampered the response. Investigators found no evidence his former mistress had contact with him; theories mentioned saved money, a possible bus departure, and an interest in Australia, but no credible leads have been confirmed.

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service continue to list his disappearance as open. Does anyone have verified information about Stees’s whereabouts after February 21, 1970?