ID ID - Darwin Vest, 48, Idaho Falls, 2 June 1999

[Ozoner]

I'm a little surprised that there doesn't seemed to be a thread for Darwin Kenneth Vest. His disappearance garnered a fair amount of media attention at the time.

Vest was a well-known expert on spiders. He disappeared in the early morning hours after leaving a bar to walk home.

There was speculation that he may have drowned in the Snake River, which runs through Idaho Falls, but it would not have been on his likely route. A witness reported seeing a body floating in the river the morning after Vest's disappearance.

A man who had previously assaulted Vest had just been released from prison after a two-year stint, so some suspect him.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/v/vest_darwin.html

http://doenetwork.org/cases/3798dmid.html

 

[KateB]

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2091

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Darwin Vest's file on Idaho's Cold Case site:

http://eastidahocoldcasesinc.com/eastcentral-idaho-missing-persons/vest-darwin-k-idaho-falls-idaho-1999/

 

[Rayemonde]

2006 article:

detectives at the department believe Vest died after falling into the rushing Snake River that cuts through town.

"We're stuck until somebody comes forward or we find some remains," said Lt. Joe Cawley, the department's spokesman. "That's why we're not positive he's deceased - we just don't have any indications. We don't have any signs of foul play or notes of suicide, nothing as far as him packing up his clothes and leaving."...

"Yes, Darwin would have had some reason to be down by the river, but he hated rain, like a cat," Rebecca Vest said. "I just have no doubt in my mind - there just had to be foul play involved."

Darwin Vest had been assaulted and robbed a few years earlier, and some suspected that his attackers had returned. But Hoffman said police checked all those leads, and didn't find anything suggestive of a crime.

"Most of the leads we get are people overhearing someone saying that someone else talked about killing him, and none of those have turned out," Hoffman said. "When you have a small town, lots of rumors get started."

Vest was well-liked by most but did ruffle some feathers in the community, Seneff said.

"Most people just devote themselves to making money, getting married and having kids, but he listened to a different drummer," Seneff said. "A lot of people thought he was weird or gay, but I think he was truly an asexual guy. He was also an atheist, and this community is really Mormon."

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regi...cle_43843f6e-eaed-577a-ba23-4939c994a85c.html

 

[Rayemonde]

2010 article:

Darwin Vest, a 48-year-old self-educated toxinologist, was last seen in the early morning hours of June 3, 1999, at a bar in downtown Idaho Falls. Earlier that evening, Vest had walked from his home to another bar for a weekly trivia game with friends.

Vest often walked at night, relatives and friends told The Associated Press. He had previously been mugged on the streets of Idaho Falls...

Vest was legally declared dead in 2004, but his family still welcomes possible information about what happened to the scientist. Log on to Vest’s website, http:// hobospider.org/dar.html.

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/y...cle_dc768b8f-8264-5eb4-94d9-fc18619e8da5.html

 

[Rayemonde]

Vest experimented with Hobo Spider venom on rabbits (poor rabbits ) and concluded that their bite was dangerous to humans, but more recent studies have disputed this.

Vest, D.K. (1987). "Envenomation by Tegenaria agrestis (Walckenaer) spiders in rabbits"


] Vetter, R.S.; Isbister, G.K. (December 2004). "Do hobo spider bites cause dermonecrotic injuries?"

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Darwin, now missing over 21 years...