On October 1, 1998, 27-year-old Blaine Lee left Kotzebue, Alaska, by skiff with Walter Thomas intending to travel to the nearby village of Buckland. The pair never arrived. Their small boat vanished on the waterways between the communities, and when they failed to show up the alarm was raised and a search began.

Searchers found debris believed to be from the skiff washed ashore between Cape Blossom and a place called Riley Wreck, but no sign of Blaine Lee or Walter Thomas. Lee was reported wearing a black hooded jacket with a Red Dog logo, brown Carhartts, blue jeans, V.B. Military-style bunny boots, black ski gloves and a thin blue headband when he left.

The search was eventually suspended and both men were presumed lost at sea; the Alaska State Troopers handled the investigation, which remains open. If anyone has information about that October 1998 trip or remembers seeing the skiff, contact those authorities.