Harold Doerring, 66, was reported missing to the Winneshiek County Sheriff's Office in Decorah, Iowa, on February 16, 1997.
iowacoldcases.org
Harold Orville Doerring
Missing Person/Presumed Dead
Name: Harold Orville Doerring
Age at Report: 66
DOB: March 14, 1930
Weight: 200 lbs.
Height: 5’11”
Race: White
Hair: Brown/gray balding
Eyes: Blue
Incident Type: Disability – physical / mental
Case Number: 97-0840
NamUs: #MP17036
Reported Missing in Decorah, IA, Winneshiek County
Death Listed in Henry County, south of Mount Pleasant
Investigating Agency: Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office
Missing Since: February 16, 1997
Sixty-six-year-old Harold Doerring was reported missing to the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office in Decorah, Iowa, on February 16, 1997.
Authorities found Harold Doerring’s truck abandoned on Highway 218 south of Mount Pleasant in Henry County on February 23, 1997. When they tried to contact him about the vehicle but could not find him, they discovered no one had seen Doerring since February 16 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Doerring, family members told officials, had recently been depressed. They described him as wearing eyeglasses and possibly clothed in a red or blue stocking cap, jeans and black high-top shoes, and a black jacket.
RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project states that Doerring is “presumed dead,” with date of death listed as February 1997 in Henry County, Iowa.
Harold Doerring already had lost and buried one of his three sons. His 20-year-old son, Peter Frederick Doerring, was killed Nov. 23, 1980 during a tragic hunting accident in Pony Hollow near Elkader, Iowa. Seven years after Harold Doerring went missing, another son, 43-year-old Martin Harold Doerring of Luana, Iowa, was murdered while traveling out of state for his job.
Harold Doerring remains listed as a missing person on the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Missing Person Information Clearinghouse and with the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office.
About Harold Doerring
Harold Orville Doerring was born March 14, 1930, to Lorenz August Doerring and Beatrice Carolyn (Palas) Doerring. He married Elvera Mae Jensen on August 26, 1956, in the Luther Valley Lutheran Church in Beloit, Wisconsin.
The couple had five children: two daughters, Angela and Julia; and three sons, Peter, Martin, and Andy.
Doerring’s wife Elvera Mae died from cancer on Oct. 6, 1970 at University Hospitals in Iowa City.
