Walter Dunson, a World War One veteran, was reported missing in Cincinnati on June 5, 1998, by his son Gary Adams, who said Dunson vanished after Adams stepped into a butcher shop at Findlay Market. Adams described his father’s clothing that day and said Dunson carried a wallet with about fifteen dollars and may have bought a lottery ticket.

Investigators found troubling discrepancies. The Social Security Administration had sent a letter to Dunson’s residence four days before the missing-person report asking for an in-person verification that he was alive to receive benefits. Neighbors and family members said very few people had seen Dunson for years; his grandson said he never met him, and the last independent sighting came before 1986 from a former pastor. Dunson had been hospitalized in 1980 for dementia or a possible stroke, and no medical records appear after that time.

Authorities concluded Dunson had likely been dead for years, possibly since at least 1985, and Gary Adams was later convicted on 25 counts of theft of public funds for cashing Dunson’s Social Security checks, totaling over $100,000; Adams received 27 months in prison and restitution. No body has ever been found, and no criminal charge was filed in connection with Dunson’s disappearance.

Does anyone have information about Walter Dunson’s later life or where he might have been after the early 1980s?