Joseph Anthony Hale, 23, was reported missing from Redding, California, on March 20, 1998. Deputies responded after a small vessel was seen turning in tight circles on the water with no one at the helm; when officers arrived the boat was still circling and nobody was aboard. Hale’s wife said he had dropped her and their child off, then returned to fish and asked her to pick him up around 6:00 p.m. Items identified as his, including a hat, were recovered from the water.

NamUs lists Hale as a white male with multiple distinctive tattoos: a caveman on the left forearm; a large cross with a female figure on the upper left arm; a burning cross on the right forearm; a skull with a Chinese symbol on the upper right arm; and a marijuana leaf on the right thigh. The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office is the investigating agency and its Boating Safety Unit patrols Lake Shasta and nearby waterways.

Does anyone remember seeing a small boat circling on Lake Shasta that night or have information about Joseph’s last known movements?