IA IA - Steven Dick Kirchhoff, 22, Waterloo, 24 January 1978

[Springrain]

Date Of Birth: August 16, 1955Age at Time of Disappearance: 22 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'11; 140 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown hair; brown eyes.
Dentals: Available. He has a history of dental work and cavities filled.
Fingerprints: Available.

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Circumstances of Disappearance
Kirchhoff was last seen in his hometown of Waterloo, Iowa on February 5, 1978. Police and relatives have said they believe Kirchhoff may have run into trouble over a drug deal and was killed.
Kirchhoff had been a lineman for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad but was laid off weeks before he vanished. He had just bought a new house and appeared to be in a good mood.
Press accounts at the time noted a man named Richard N. Forsyth, who was seen carrying something from his apartment wrapped in a rug. Forsyth allegedly paid cash for a Cadillac seven days after Kirchhoff vanished. He is also listed as a missing person after he was last seen in October of 1979. The Kirchhoff family tracked Forsythe to an uncle's home in Arizona. However, Forsythe allegedly learned of the search and fled



http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kirchhoff_steven.html
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/steven-kirchhoff/
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/236dmia.html

No NamUs page for him. I don't know where the fingerprints are stored if not in NamUs; but I'm far from an expert on that.

It sadly sounds like he's almost certainly passed away from a drug deal gone awry. It seems like his remains could be in or around AZ. I'll look for UIDs in AZ and IA first.

 

[Hawks24]

I think the key to this is finding Forsyth...

 

[Savemecastiel]

Wow, what a handsome fella... Let's hope we get some answers soon.

 

[BattlestarGeek]

Bumping for Steven

 

[ohthatkatgirl]

An article from The Des Moines Register (20th Jan 1985) with a lot of information.

Another article. http://wcfcourier.com/uncertainty-h...cle_b76cfc88-918e-56c4-bd15-39f6acd03cba.html

 

[Mr Obvious]

This falls in the John Wayne Gacy timeline. Gacy lived in Waterloo for years, and lured young men by offering jobs. It's unlikely they crossed paths, but it may be a good idea to make sure Steven is not 1 of the 6 unidentified victims.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Steven Dick Kirchhoff – The Charley Project

Kirchhoff, circa 1978

Details of Disappearance
Kirchhoff was last seen in Waterloo, Iowa on January 24, 1978. He spent the previous night with a girlfriend and apparently disappeared between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. the next day, possibly in a residence on Maxwell Street about a mile from his parents' home.

A resident of one of the apartments there heard bumping noises and a man's voice saying, "Oh God, don't do this to me!" It isn't clear whether this is related to Kirchhoff's disappearance.

He was known to be a drug dealer and authorities think his disappearance may have been drug-related. They believe he was carrying up to $8,000 in cash when he disappeared, and possibly he was robbed and killed. Shortly after his disappearance, Kirchhoff's car was found in a parking lot at the Waterloo Industries Inc. factory near Maxwell street.

Another missing Iowa man, Richard Forsyth, may have been connected in some way to Kirchhoff's disappearance.

There were rumors that Forsyth was seen carrying something wrapped in a rug the day after Kirchhoff vanished, and he bought a 1972 Cadillac for $2,000 the next day, paying in $100 bills. His face was bruised and bloody at the time, and he said he'd fallen on a wine bottle and had to get stitches.

He left town that day and had his stitches removed in Manhattan, Kansas on February 1. After that he traveled to an uncle's home in Tucson, Arizona. By the time the police and Kirchhoff's parents tracked him to Arizona, Forsyth was gone.

In mid-1979, the Cadillac Forsyth bought was found in storage in Grand Forks, North Dakota. A man calling himself David Gates had left it there a year earlier, paying only one month's storage fee. The same day the car was left in storage, a man who called himself Richard Steves rented a room in Grand Forks, paying one month's rent, but he didn't stay even one night.

Kirchhoff's parents believe believe Forsyth and "Richard Steves" may have been the same person, but the landlady couldn't identify Forsyth's photograph.

The Kirchhoffs think Forsyth may have gone to Canada; the Canadian border is only 75 miles from Grand Forks. Forsyth's Cadillac was bloodstained, but the stains could not be matched to Kirchhoff's blood.

Forsyth was reported missing from Waterloo, Iowa on October 18, 1979. He remains listed as a missing person and has not been conclusively linked to Kirchhoff's case. Both men's cases remain unsolved.

In 2003, authorities acting on a tip began searching a rural 12-acre farmstead between Fairbank and Denver, Iowa for evidence related to Kirchhoff's case. It was once owned by a Waterloo man, Lonson "Lonnie" Luloff, who faced life in prison for federal methamphetamine and weapons charges in 1994 but was released in 2000 after cutting a deal with prosecutors.

Luloff is described by investigators as one of the biggest drug suppliers in the area. Authorities are not calling him a suspect in Kirchhoff's disappearance, however, and nothing was found in the search of his farm.

Kirchhoff graduated from West High School in Waterloo in 1973; he was a good student there and worked part time. He was employed as a lineman for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad but had been laid off weeks before his disappearance.

He had just purchased a new house, was planning to marry the mother of his two-year-old child, and appeared to be in good spirits. His case remains unsolved.

 

[MadMcGoo]

18 Unidentified Person Exclusions
UP12415 - 1978 Jackson, WI

(The remainder are from Virginia)

 

[Pennysmom1]

article updated July 30, 2022

Police renew search in missing person case

FAIRBANK -- Waterloo police and federal and state agents will continue a search today that his been on hold for more than two decades.

wcfcourier.com

 

[Caring1]

Bump for Steven

 

[Pennysmom1]

Aug 23, 2022

Uncertainty haunts local families with missing loved ones

WATERLOO -- As one Waterloo family prepares funeral services to mark the tragic end of a months-long missing person case, other area families remain haunted over memories of their missing

wcfcourier.com

Steven Dick Kirchhoff (1955-1978) - Find a Grave...

www.findagrave.com

 

[Carovb5]

D

CA Post in thread 'CA - Riverside, WhtMale, pre-30s, UP134825, traffic accident, picture avil, multiple tattoos, June 2 1978'

Jan 1, 2025

Someone on fb suggested this man and posted overlaps + the similarities in hairline and that looks promising! Won’t post them cause it’s not nice to “steal” other persons work.

Steven Dick Kirchhoff – The Charley Project

It is worth submitting. Rule outs are important too, IMO.

The height is spot on, and weight is similar enough. The lips and eyebrows look different, IMO. UID hair is described as strawberry blonde, and Steven's is darker. Per Charley Project, Steven is suspected to have been killed as a result of a robbery / drug activities. There are multiple...

• Deleted member 306806

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Possible match??

Does anybody know the name of his son?