FL FL - Bruce Neal Walls, 29, West Palm Beach, 5 Sept 1980

[TheArtfulDetective]

Bruce Neal Walls​

Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: September 5, 1980***
Location Last Seen: West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida

Description:

• Date of Birth: November 14, 1950
• Age: 29 years old
• Race: White/Caucasian
• Gender: Male
• Height: 5' 8" (68 Inches)
• Weight: 118-125 lbs
• Hair Color: Red/Auburn
• Eye Color: Green
• Nickname/Alias: Unknown
• Distinguishing Marks/Features: May wear eyeglasses.
• Clothing & Personal Items: Unknown
• Identifiers: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Walls was last seen in West Palm Beach, Florida on September 5, 1980***. He was carrying a briefcase which is believed to have contained over $100,000 worth of diamonds and other precious stones. He told a colleague he was going to sell his gemstones to a buyer in the area. He has never been heard from again and left all his personal belongings behind.

Walls was driving a rented red or maroon 1980 Mercury Cougar at the time of his disappearance. The vehicle was found later that same day abandoned at the Fort Pierce Service Plaza on the southbound Florida turnpike, with the keys left in the ignition. There was no sign of foul play at the scene, but the vehicle had been driven 500 miles that could not be accounted for.

Walls was a highly successful diamond merchant in 1980; he owned a jewelry business called R and W Gem Imports and frequently carried small gemstones with him when he traveled around the state making sales. It's possible he was robbed which subsequently led to his disappearance. His whereabouts remain unknown.

***Some agencies report the missing date/date of last contact as August 25, 1980.

Investigators:

• West Palm Beach Police Department: (561) 822-1900
  Reference Case#: P55514

NamUs Case Number: M178821471
NCIC Case Number: MP17582

Bruce Neal Walls – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Bruce Neal Walls

 

[HopeRains]

but the vehicle had been driven 500 miles that could not be accounted for.

Mapping it out - it would appear that the travel could have only occurred in FL. Assuming I am looking at it correctly, crossing the FL border into another state and coming back southbound to the location of the vehicle in Ft Pierce would have pushed the mileage well beyond 500.

 

[HopeRains]

***Some agencies report the missing date/date of last contact as August 25, 1980.

Newspaper articles of the time report his last seen date as August 25 with him being reported as missing a week later.

Additional Information in news articles of the time (Oct 1980) also stated the following:

• The night before (Aug 24) he was last seen (Aug 25) he met his mentor, a diamond dealer who worked out of Miami and had been in the business for 40 years. He had been beaten and robbed.
• He commuted between West Palm Beach and Gainesville, where he had businesses.
• He left the home a friend in West Palm Beach (where he had been for a wedding) on Aug 25 telling his friend he had business in Gainesville and would be returning the next day, apparently leaving in a hurry. One article indicates he told his friend he had missed his flight and would be driving back to Gainesville.
• LE has found no record of plane reservations, but they said they had received info that he had been at the airport on Aug 25.
• One article indicates LE determined his car had been at the Ft Pierce Service Plaza since about midnight, Aug 25, according to the article about 3-ish hours since he had left.
• The turnpike ticket in the car indicated the car had been travelling south.
• Given the dangerous nature of the industry, it is considered very secretive and close-mouthed with regards to business dealings (who, what, when, where).
• He was a very successful businessman with properties in British Columbia, Hawaii, and South America.
• He had his own single-engine plan.
• He had plans to take a Labor Day cruise with his girlfriend. (Labor Day Monday was Sep 1).