http://www.lbth.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401268SLife is ironic.
I was out hiking this morning and thinking of upcoming missing person anniversaries. It was way too early on a Saturday, and without coffee, I was drawing blanks on March anniversaries. Besides running this website, one of the things I do is to notify the media on missing person anniversaries, so that was the reason for my brain search of anniversaries.
By two miles into the hike I was still vacuous, rotating between thoughts of the great cat fight in my bedroom last night (I have three cats), what room to tackle first with spring cleaning, upcoming birthdays and missing persons. Mind skipping away, I came across this very odd picnic area a little after the two mile marker. It had a a big rock announcing "Earl's picnic area." Out in the middle of nowhere and there's a picnic area. It had to have some sort of historical tie to it because I cannot see the average family walking 2 miles in deep forest to get to this site. (I couldn't find anything in a quick research)
Later, I got home and looked up anniversaries and did a two second pause when the first one that came up was Earl Distance. He disappeared March 3, 1991 in Baltimore.
I'd like to say Earl was giving me dimwit I a hint out there in the woods. After all, it was rather coincidental that I'm trying to recall missing person anniversaries and come across his name in the woods. However, the sign easily could have said David's picnic area and could be correlated to another case on the site. Since I tend to be a little more logical than to dismiss coincidences as a spiritual encounter, I didn't believe Earl was out there giving me a sign.
However, I do find myself wondering about the person's life when things like this happen.
I have an odd relationship with people I've never. I often think about them and wonder what their lives were like when they were alive, how they saw the world, and most often, if they shared the same hobbies as me. I've done this a thousand times in the last decade with missing and unidentified persons cases, trying to scrutinize their clothing, what their personalities were like, what their hobbies were, and so on.
With that, as soon as I found Earl's anniversary date, I found myself quickly trying to find out what his hobbies were again. Of course, today I wondering if he was a hiker as I am. So I immediately went to his case file. On his profile it says he disappeared wearing red sweat pants and athletic shoes, so I immediately analyzed if in 1991 that would be something you'd hike in. In 1991 it was quite popular to walk around in sweat pants all the time. Where he disappeared was in the middle of the city. I could not find any local trails in that area.
He was thin though, 170 lbs at 6'2, perhaps a little on the skinny side. He did have a beard that was significant of the great outdoors at that time period. He had a happy grin and a full beard. His picture embraces contentment. Not enough to determine if he was a hiker. But more importantly than that, is just where is Earl?
I'd really like to know more about Earl and am wondering if there's anyone interested in helping me learn more. If you can find anything in researching Earl's case, please let know at marylandmissing@yahoo.com
Also, while I'm at it, we need some volunteers in these areas:
- Blog contributors
- Eyes to tell us of bad links on the site
- Event planners for a vigil for Jane Doe Frederick in July
