Bobby Joe Horn was 43 when he was last seen on August 31, 1977. A well-known Washington D.C. area radio personality who used the on-air name Bob Nighthawk Terry, Horn had just left WHUR to start his own production company. His disappearance was noticed after he failed to pick up his son at National Airport that day.

Months later a dark blue 1976 Oldsmobile Toronado registered to Horn was found abandoned and burned in a rural area of North Carolina, and investigators immediately suspected foul play. Rumors circulated that he had been murdered and dismembered with remains scattered in North Carolina, but those claims have never been substantiated. In 1978 Horn was indicted on federal charges for failing to file income taxes for 1971 to 1974.

Horn’s former business partner Linwood Gray later went on trial in 1979 on drug trafficking and tax charges. Gray testified that Horn had been a drug dealer with organized crime ties, that he heard a contract may have been placed on Horn, and that Horn might have fled to the Netherlands. Gray was acquitted of the drug charges and convicted of tax evasion; it remains unknown whether he had any involvement in Horn’s disappearance.

Did anyone who knew Horn or his work in 1977 ever hear credible information about his whereabouts after August 31?