Deceased/Not Found CA - Martin Alan Gentry, 23, Rancho Cordova, 20 July 1986

[TheArtfulDetective]

Martin Alan Gentry



Case Classification: Endangered Missing / Suspected Homicide
Missing Since: July 20, 1986
Location Last Seen: Rancho Cordova, Sacramento County, California

Description:

• Date of Birth: October 12, 1962
• Age: 23 years old
• Race: White/Caucasian
• Gender: Male
• Height: 6' 0" (72 inches)
• Weight: 170 - 190 lbs.
• Hair Color: Brown/Wavy/Shoulder-length
• Eye Color: Hazel/Green
• Nickname/Alias: Marty
• Distinguishing Marks/Features: Tattoos: A cross with rose on upper left arm; horse head on upper right arm. One of his front teeth (tooth #9) was turning black at the time of his disappearance. Tooth #8 has an implant (pulled due to trauma accident).
• Clothing & Personal Items: Blue sweatshirt. Brown corduroy pants. Tan shoes. Harley Davidson baseball cap. An Indian Head nickle pendant on a chain necklace.
• Identifiers: Dental records, fingerprints, and DNA available.

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Gentry was last seen in Rancho Cordova, California on July 20, 1986. He received a phone call from a woman, changed his clothes, and left his parents" residence in the 10800 block of Coloma Road. He planned to meet the woman at a Circle K store and go buy marijuana. He has never been heard from again.

Gentry was formally reported missing by his mother on July 26, 1986, six days after he disappeared, and five days after a sheriff's sergeant got an anonymous tip that Gentry had been shot to death. A woman caller told the sergeant that she heard Gentry's best friend, Joseph A. Stanley, say he was going to take Gentry out by the Boys' Ranch in eastern Sacramento and shoot him. Stanley was angry at Gentry at the time because he thought Gentry was pursuing a woman he was interested in. Stanley was interviewed by detectives in 1986 and claimed that he had been forced at gunpoint to lure Gentry out of his home, then witnessed Gentry being killed by the unknown gunman somewhere off Prairie City Road in Folsom, California.

In January of 1990, Stanley was brought to trial for the murder, however, the judge declared a mistrial in the case because the jury could not reach a verdict after two days of deliberation. Gentry's body has never been recovered and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Investigators:

• Sacramento County Sheriff's Office: (916) 874-5115
  Reference Case#: 86-067001

NCIC Case Number: M-604622127
NamUs Case Number: MP7109

]https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/7109/details?nav
1543DMCA - Martin Alan Gentry
Martin Alan Gentry – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[cheemsg]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
I wonder if this has anything to do with him.

Martin: tattoo of Horse head on right upper arm
John Doe: Tattoo on right lateral upper arm of a cartoon like horse

Height is way off but what a Weird coincidence.

 

[TexanStorm]

I knew Marty. He was my best guy friend. I had been at his parents apartment with him just before he went missing. I spoke to the police at the time of his disappearance and several times since then. Joe Stanley’s “married girlfriend” thought something was going on with he and I, they fought. He showed up at my apartment, pushed through my door, shoved me to the floor and tried strangling me. My roommate and friends pulled him off me and I ran. Marty and I were very close, hung out a lot when he wasn’t busy hanging out with Joe. He did have a thing for Joes married girlfriend. As far as I knew, nothing was going on between them. She was playing them both however. Her husband was in jail and getting out soon. Marty was angry about Joe trying to strangle me and said he was going to confront him about it. A few days later I got a visit from the police at work about him being missing. I told them about the beef between Marty and Joe. A week later Joe and a couple of his friends, Steve and Scott, showed up at my new apartment and told me they were told I talked to the cops and if I didn’t shut up he was going to kill me like Marty. Next day I got a visit from his friends telling me Joe was serious and that he had shot Marty. A year or two later a good friend of mine, Mary, told me that Joe told her that he shot Marty, put his body in something like a barrel and the police would never find Marty. I have told this story to law enforcement several times. I was never called as a witness at either trial. Joe literally got away with murder. Marty’s memory and what I was told has haunted me for nearly four decades.

 

[spartanx]

I always wonder about the reasons or decisions that witnesses make when they see this kind of thing and do nothing... maybe as a person you fear for your own safety... (this isn't a criticism, I'm just interested in knowing your thoughts behind it, as you were actually present)... However, in this case I'm sure I read in an article that a witness tried to intervene when they saw a distressed Martin being abused by this man and the man told them he was a plainclothes police officer escorting the child out of the station/making an arrest so that satisfied the person's concern and they thought nothing more of it until the police appealed to the public for information regarding Martin's missing person case...

 

[TexanStorm]

In this case the witness, me, did do something. I talked to the police on multiple occasions, at least 5 or 6 times. Last time was just a couple years ago. I don’t know why the prosecutor didn’t call me as a witness at the trials of Joe. He’s be in prison if they did. I will never understand. I know that until Marty’s body is found, I will continue to be haunted. My posting the story here was in hopes that someone will remember something or investigate and find him. I’ve thought about looking into a YouTube sleuth. I’m no longer afraid of Joe killing me too. I just want Marty’s family and friends to get closure and for Marty to be respectfully put to rest

 

[Leprikawn]

In this case the witness, me, did do something. I talked to the police on multiple occasions, at least 5 or 6 times. Last time was just a couple years ago. I don’t know why the prosecutor didn’t call me as a witness at the trials of Joe. He’s be in prison if they did. I will never understand. I know that until Marty’s body is found, I will continue to be haunted. My posting the story here was in hopes that someone will remember something or investigate and find him. I’ve thought about looking into a YouTube sleuth. I’m no longer afraid of Joe killing me too. I just want Marty’s family and friends to get closure and for Marty to be respectfully put to rest

Actually reading your story made me have a lot of respect for you. The guy is obviously a killer and you still tried to give the police information even after being threatened. Hopefully his body can be found and this monster can rot in jail. He has obviously bragged to numerous people and thinks he cant be charged. Which should make LE want to get him even more.