On October 14, 1975, 76-year-old Charles Theis, a retired Milwaukee firefighter, disappeared while waiting in a parked car on Military Road near the Anvil Lake fire tower in Phelps, Wisconsin. His son Floyd had gone grouse hunting around 4 p.m.; about an hour later Floyd returned to find the car empty. Charles was last seen wearing a brown checkered coat, a brown hat, glasses, a Masonic ring, and a Fire Department identification bracelet. He was described as 5 feet 9 inches and 150–175 pounds with gray or partially gray hair.

A large search followed. About 150 people and bloodhounds tracked a scent for roughly nine miles along Military Road; the trail ended abruptly at Deerskin and Military roads. Sheriff John Scott suggested Charles may have been picked up by a vehicle there, but investigators considered several possibilities and never reached a conclusion. Floyd circulated his father’s photo, offered a $1,000 reward, and pursued leads including a psychic tip; none produced credible evidence. Theis has not been seen or heard from since that day.

Did anyone in the area at the time recall seeing an older man get into a vehicle near the Deerskin and Military roads intersection?