IA IA - Harry Dennis Milligan, 21, Albia, 1 July 1984

[MadMcGoo]

• Harry Dennis Milligan – The Charley Project

• Harry Dennis Milligan | Iowa Cold Cases

• The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) MP27646

Harry Dennis Milligan

Milligan, circa 1984

Missing Since: July 1, 1984
Missing From: Albia, Monroe County, Iowa
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Date of Birth: October 4, 1962
Age: 21 years old
Height: 6'0”
Weight: 160 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Eyewear: Wears contact lenses or glasses
Scar/mark: Scar on nose

Details of Disappearance: Milligan was last seen during the early morning hours of July 1, 1984 in his hometown of Albia, Iowa. He left the business district en route to his family's home seven miles away in Avery, Iowa, but never arrived there. He was driving a maroon two-door 1977 Pontiac Grand Am with Iowa license plate number EIJ-244 ; it has never been located. He has never been heard from again.

Milligan was a Marine Corps reservist at the time of his disappearance. His loved ones stated he was in good spirits and didn't appear to be having any problems. His brother believes the last three men known to have seen Milligan may have knowledge of his disappearance. He was declared legally dead in the early 1990s, and his parents have since died. His case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency: Monroe County Sheriff's Office 641-932-7815
Agency Case Number: 84M-02
NCIC Number: M-126380624

 

[MadMcGoo]

Harry Dennis Milligan 1984 IA

Clipping found in The Des Moines Register published in Des Moines, Iowa on 9/13/1984. Harry Dennis Milligan 1984 IA

www.newspapers.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

Yearbook Date: 1978
School: Albia Community High School


Yearbook Date: 1979


Yearbook Date: 1980


Yearbook Date: 1981

 

[MadMcGoo]

Monroe County Sheriff re-opens missing persons case from 1984

 

[chaddylex]

The Vanished just released a podcast on Harry's missing case. EPISODE 283: Harry Milligan — The Vanished Podcast

 

[Bit of hope]

My first thought would be that he and his car are in a body of water. Rathburn lake f.i. Was it searched?

 

[TwinMama]

This case really troubles me. I listened to The Vanished podcast and I cannot get this man off my mind. It's frustrating that both he and his car have been missing so long. I feel really hopeful that something will come to light on this case. His loved ones are working really hard to get Harry's story out there, and I truly wish that answers would arrive already.

 

[PommyMommy]

OCT 25, 2021
The search is still on for an Albia man who’s been missing for 37 years
Mark Milligan, the Albia man who has been searching for his missing brother for over 30 years has joined forces with another individual to help locate their missing family member as well. He says he doesn’t want anyone to have to search as long as he has. “I don’t want to see his story be 37 years later before his family gets an answer,” says Milligan.

He and a few others have so far placed four out of seven signs around Albia and Moravia of not only his brother Harry but also of a man by the name of Sebastion Husted, who was reported missing since January of 2018.

[...]

He says both pictures are on the sides of the billboard that are facing the towns from which they went missing. “Leave Centerville heading north of Albia you’ll see Harry, coming south going to Centerville you’ll see Ty,” Kaster explains.

[...]

 

[Bit of hope]

Finding Harry Milligan A lot of info on this pages. In 'recources' the original Incident Rapport f.i. you can read the names of people who have last seen him/where with him (NO POI's)



Harry Milligan, 21, was last seen in Albia, Iowa in the early morning hours of July 1, 1984 in a similar vehicle, 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix with the license plate #EIJ244. Please keep your eye out for a vehicle similar to this one that may be half buried back in a field or down in a creek bed somewhere. He was also reported to have been wearing blue jeans, a blue plaid short sleeved shirt and white tennis shoes. Many crimes are solved by the careful attention of Hunters and Farmers! This mystery is over 36 years old but crazier things have happened! Thank you for sharing!

 

[Bit of hope]

A must read
Very good write up about the background, theories....written by Harry's brother; Police Sergeant Mark Milligan.

Mark Milligan: What happened to my brother? | Iowa Cold Cases

Also advised to read the comments.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Perhaps this could lead to finally solving Harry's case...

This Iowa bill would create a cold case investigations unit

 

[imstilla.grandma]

ALBIA, Iowa — Harry Milligan vanished from Albia on July 1, 1984 at just 21-years-old. Thirty-eight years later, people are not giving up on trying to find answers of where he could have gone.

“I have probably traveled every single gravel road in Monroe County to try and find him,” said Milligan’s brother, Mark Milligan.

A private dive team, Chaos Divers, is the latest entity to take up Harry Milligan’s missing person case. The Illinois-based team spent the past week searching for clues in and around Albia

“This is something good that we can do, we can get the sonar and try and help solve cold cases,” said Chaos Divers founder Jacob Grubbs.

The team specializes in finding vehicles underwater. Milligan’s car has also never been seen since he went missing.

“In our work, we have brought ten people home,” Grubbs said.

“We searched places I didn’t think were accessible this time,” said Chaos Diving team member Lindsay Bussick. “We went through thirteen ponds, three reservoirs, Lake Miami, and Rathbun Lake.”

The dive team did not find any trace of Harry Milligan, but Mark said even finding no answers provided answers on its own…

Dive team searches for Albia man missing since 1984

ALBIA, Iowa — Harry Milligan vanished from Albia on July 1, 1984 at just 21-years-old. Thirty-eight years later, people are not giving up on trying to find answers of where he could have gone. &#82…

who13.com

 

[LouLou74]

No car, but has this guy been ruled out, UP2620?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The 21-year-old was last seen in the early morning of July 1, 1984, after a night out with friends, where he was dropped off at his 1977 maroon Pontiac Grand Prix.

“We were real close,” Mark said of his older brother Harry. “We were the only ones we had.”

Only two and a half years apart, Mark and Harry Milligan grew up in the small town of Avery, Iowa with their four older siblings. “They were a lot older than us,” Mark said. “When I was like two, they were 18 or 19 years old.”

Harry Milligan young with his parents.Mark Milligan
Mark told Dateline that he had been raised by his grandparents since he was two years old, but he was officially adopted by them when he turned 18. “That’s how me and Harry became brothers,” Mark said. He told Dateline that Harry had been adopted by Mark’s grandparents when he was just a few months old. “We don’t know who Harry’s birth father or mother is.”

According to Mark, Avery, Iowa is “in the middle of nowhere” but the brothers always found an abundance of activities to do. “Did a lot of fishing, hunting, those types of things,” Mark said. “We played high school sports.”

“It’s kind of surprising he ended up as good as an athlete as he was,” Mark said. He told Dateline that Harry was born with two club feet and had to have surgery to set them straight. Despite that, “he excelled in football, basketball -- he played golf.”

Brother hoping to reignite search for Harry Milligan, who disappeared 38 years ago in Albia, Iowa

The 21-year-old was last seen in the early morning of July 1, 1984, after a night out with friends, where he was dropped off at his 1977 maroon Pontiac Grand Prix.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[JnRyan]

The Charley Project has updated his page.

Harry Dennis Milligan – The Charley Project

charleyproject.org

Details of disappearance updated. Interesting that the car was never found. In the water somewhere? In a salvage yard many miles away?

 

[Ozoner]

This is a snapshot of a generic route from Albia to Avery. I don't know the parents' address.

There are other routes that he could have taken, so it would be good to know the address of the bar where he was last seen and the parents' address.

If he was intoxicated, he might have stuck to back roads in order to avoid the cops. People have been known to do that when drinking and driving.

 

[Ozoner]

The Charley Project has updated his page.

Harry Dennis Milligan – The Charley Project

charleyproject.org

Details of disappearance updated. Interesting that the car was never found. In the water somewhere? In a salvage yard many miles away?

It's pretty unlikely that this guy would have just happened to encounter any bad actors in the middle of the night during the ten-minute drive from Albia to his parents' house. If his friends are lying—if they harmed him during a dispute over poker money, for instance—then he and his car could be anywhere.

Someone who saw that he had won some money could have followed him from the bar; hopefully law enforcement was able to identify everyone who was in the bar that night.

He might have gone into the water, but it's tough to say where. Heck, the car could have gone into a retention pond that has since been filled in. I would try to get aerial photographs from 1984 if any exist. Heavy brush can also hide a car, but it seems like someone would have stumbled across it during the past 39 years unless it was submerged.

If you look at the expected route from Albia to Avery today, he should have traveled east on 165th Street, which has couple of big curves, for most of the way. The largest ponds are near the junction with 62nd Avenue, and they're right near a curve. It would have been easy for a drowsy driver to end up in one of them.

If he fell asleep at the wheel, then he could have traveled pretty far from the roadway before crashing, so even ponds several hundred feet from the road should be considered.

 

[Ciriii57]

I was bought on the crashing in water theory but It looks like dive teams have done several very thorough searches of all the water sources in the area and on his possible route and also areas of impenetrable bush and nothing. Unless he drove very far away and off course I think his car must have been gotten rid of along with his body by whoever committed foul play. Getting rid of a car would probably involve more than one person I guess.
How often are cars buried? It seems like you'd need a pretty big, noticeable hole to bury a car.

I'm pretty certain that the people from that town at that time know what happened, probably the ones from the bar, and it's just a matter of time. I hope his brother eventually gets closure.

 

[VaYank5150]

Large car. Hard to hide/get rid of. This is a water death.

 

[Ciriii57]

I

Large car. Hard to hide/get rid of. This is a water death.

I really did think so too but where? Everywhere nearby has been searched several times with sonar and dive teams?
Could the vehicle have been washed far away down a river?
Is it possible someone had a friend with a crusher?