Dr. Henry Peter Ackerman, 48, vanished from Memphis, Tennessee, after buying a red and white striped 1995 GMC pickup truck on June 18, 1998. He had been in town to purchase the vehicle as part of plans to move to Alaska for a new job in an Alaskan school system and to live in a camper. He was a widower from Baltimore, Maryland, with a Ph.D. in education from the University of Memphis and held a Tennessee license as a psychological examiner.

Ackerman was described as having graying brown hair often worn in a ponytail, walking with a limp and sometimes using a cane because of a scar on his left knee. He arranged for a neighbor to care for his dog and three cats during the short trip. All contact ceased after June 18, 1998; the case was listed as endangered missing.

In 2011 a friend identified as Dale V. Mardis confessed to killing Ackerman, saying an argument over a debt ended when he beat Ackerman with a hammer and then disposed of the body. The confession led to a guilty plea and a life sentence, though Ackerman’s remains were not recovered.