Marc Allen, 1986
Marc James-Warren Allen (sometimes referred to as Mark James Allen) was 13 when he was last seen on March 29, 1986 in Des Moines, Iowa. The teenager told his mother he was walking to a friend’s house in the neighborhood. He wore a light blue t-shirt, blue jean shorts, white socks, and gray tennis shoes with Velcro tabs. His family never saw him again and he did not make it to the friend’s home. When efforts to locate him failed, Marc was declared a missing and endangered person.
He was brown-haired and blue-eyed and had a small scar on top of his head.
Marc’s disappearance was eerily similar to that of Johnny Gosch, who vanished from the same area in 1982, and of Eugene Wade Martin, who went missing in 1984. The three young men were similar in age and physical description and all disappeared literally without a trace.
Marc Allen as he may look today.
May 13, 2010 will be Marc’s 38th birthday, the 24th year his family has been left to wonder where he is.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4811, the Iowa DCI Missing Person Information Clearing House, or the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).
Thank you to Bonnie Maier for passing along the information regarding 13-year-old Eugene Martin, who disappeared on August 12, 1984, while delivering newspapers for the Des Moines Register. Eugene now has a page up on the ICC website.
Eugene’s disappearance came almost two years after that of 12-year-old Register paperboy Johnny Gosch on Sept. 5, 1982, and many still believe the two cases are connected. At one time, a $94,000 reward was offered — $25,000 of that by the Des Moines Register — for information leading to the recovery of either Johnny or Eugene. Both boys remain officially missing.
The ICC Cases text only page now lists over 90 names of unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. If the name does not contain an active hyperlink, we are still working to collect information and photos for that case. We’ve got a long way to go; Iowa currently has just over 150 unsolved homicides and almost 50 long-time missing persons cases like that of Johnny Gosch, Eugene Martin and Jodi Huisentruit. Somewhere, someone knows something.
Can you help? If you have any information (news articles, photos, details) please send them along. Yes, this information will be shared with Iowa’s new Cold Cases Unit. Anonymous tips are acceptable and may be sent via the Contact page. (Just enter “Anonymous” in the name field.)
And, stay tuned for upcoming new developments with the Iowa Cold Cases website.
Yours in hope,
Jody
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