WY WY - David Vernon Lovely, 19, Fort Bridger, 5 Aug 1985

[anthrobones]

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1325dmwy.html

David Vernon Lovely
Missing since August 5, 1985 from Fort Bridger, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: August 29, 1965
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 6'4"; 160 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown hair; blue eyes. Light complexion.
• Marks, Scars: Large surgical scars across abdominal area below rib cage from kidney surgery.
• Clothing: White pullover sweatshirt, brown cotton pants, athletic shoes, Army fatigue jacket, red nylon jacket.
• AKA: Dave
• Dentals: Not available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Lovely was last seen in the vicinity of County Road 201 in Fort Bridger, Wyoming.
The story of Lovely's disappearance is baffling. Although the last time his family heard from him was August 5, 1985, the case didn't come to the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office until nine days later when some campers found his abandoned burgundy 1978 Yamaha motorcycle near Baxter Road.
Lovely had become separated from his family during a cross-country move. According to police reports, Lovely's mother was driving a large U-Haul truck and he was was driving the motorcycle. They stopped every 30 miles to check on David. When they got to Evanston, Lovely's mother and sister wanted to stop but he wanted to keep going. He left the two, telling them he would wait for them at a rest stop further east. They never saw him again.
The last time he was heard from was a call to his aunt. He told her he had had trouble with his motorcycle and pushed it into the Bingo Truck Stop in Fort Bridger. A "rough looking" man on a motorcycle worked on the bike and "fixed it better than it was," Lovely told his aunt. He also told her he was afraid of the man who fixed the motorcycle.
The family and authorities rode the area where the motorcycle was found with ATVs and searched all around there. The keys were left in the bike and it had a half tank of gas. It was in running condition. However, no sign of the young man was ever found.

 

[kevmob77]

I haven't seen his case here on WS besides a brief mention of it with his name and date missing. It's somewhat bizarre. His family was moving from Massachusetts to California on 8/5/1985, driving a U-Haul while David drove separate from them in his Yamaha motorcycle. He decided to drive further while his family stopped in Evanston, Illinois. He has never been heard from again. Here is the Charley Project case file link...

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/lovely_david.html

 

[missacorah]

What a strange and sad story. He looks so happy and vibrant in his Charley Project photos.

I suppose there is a small chance he didnt want to go through with the move but is family do seem adament he owuldnt just vanish.

Would love to read more about this one but theres not much out there!

 

[kevmob77]

What a strange and sad story. He looks so happy and vibrant in his Charley Project photos.

I suppose there is a small chance he didnt want to go through with the move but is family do seem adament he owuldnt just vanish.

Would love to read more about this one but theres not much out there!

Very true. The lack of info in this case is frustrating. I've try to search more all over the web, but it's just not there. One aspect that's odd is that on his case profile it says his family stopped every 30 miles to check on him while they were driving that long distance from Massachusetts to California, and they all stopped in Evanston, Illinois, but that he wanted to keep going. He called his aunt and said he was in Fort Bridger, WY. That's a ways away from Evanston, IL (almost 1300 miles according to Mapquest). Why the discrepancy there? It doesn't add up. Then there's the guy who David Lovely said was fixing his motorcycle, and that he was scared of him? Back in 1985, there weren't cell phones obviously, but he did call his aunt and said that he got all the way to WY? Wouldn't his family have been concerned by the time they reached, say, Iowa or another close neighboring state? Strange. And then the fact that his motorcycle was found later to be in running condition with a half tank of gas left in it. So, my assumption is that the man who was fixing the motorcyle didn't want the motorcycle for personal use or for its parts, if indeed this is what transpired, they why did he fix it at all at the Bingo Truck Stop, a place that most likely had a lot of traffic and customers and where a person could easily be seen if this man's intentions were not very good? I don't think a voluntary disappearance can be ruled out, but it's just a big question mark.

 

[kevmob77]

A few things I would like investigators to ponder:

1.) Was every licensed mechanic questioned within a 50 mile radius of where David disappeared?
2.) Suspect must have been a male
3.) Did any person abruptly move away from the area soon after David's disappearance?
4.) Who was employed at a rest stop/gas station at the time?
5.) Who had a mechanics license but was currently unemployed?
My felling on this bizarre case is that David's motorcycle started acting up. He couldn't fix it, so he asked someone he thought might could. After the job was finished, the repairman gave David an unreasonably high total for fixing it. Maybe he flipped out and said some words, understandably. I would be shocked if a suspect's name wasn't already in the case file. Any thoughts?

 

[kirsty]

what a sad case I hope the police talked to the local mechanics, that 'dodgy guy' had somthing to do with it, imo

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

A few things I would like investigators to ponder:

1.) Was every licensed mechanic questioned within a 50 mile radius of where David disappeared?
2.) Suspect must have been a male
3.) Did any person abruptly move away from the area soon after David's disappearance?
4.) Who was employed at a rest stop/gas station at the time?
5.) Who had a mechanics license but was currently unemployed?
My felling on this bizarre case is that David's motorcycle started acting up. He couldn't fix it, so he asked someone he thought might could. After the job was finished, the repairman gave David an unreasonably high total for fixing it. Maybe he flipped out and said some words, understandably. I would be shocked if a suspect's name wasn't already in the case file. Any thoughts?

Well, we have another discrepancy then if this is the case (your last paragraph) because according to the family member (aunt?) he phoned, he was afraid of the man. I don't see him flipping out on him. But I think the theory works. Did he not have enough to pay the man that helped him? Could they tell if any part OF the cycle itself was repaired recently?

 

[kevmob77]

Well, we have another discrepancy then if this is the case (your last paragraph) because according to the family member (aunt?) he phoned, he was afraid of the man. I don't see him flipping out on him. But I think the theory works. Did he not have enough to pay the man that helped him? Could they tell if any part OF the cycle itself was repaired recently?

According to what his aunt said, the man did repair the motorcycle and fixed it "better than it was" is what I believe he told her. The bike was found later intact, so theft is obviously out of the question- and it had a half tank of gas when they found it. Maybe I should have phrased my last paragraph better, but what I think might have happened is what you alluded to. Sometime after the man repaired the bike, there was an issue of costs or compensation of some sort.

 

[klovely]

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1325dmwy.html

David Vernon Lovely
Missing since August 5, 1985 from Fort Bridger, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.
Classification: Endangered Missing


I'm David's sister - thank you for posting the information about his disappearance and for caring about him. To clear up some misinformation:

- David, my mother and my sister were moving from California to Massachusetts
- my mother & sister wanted to stop in Evanston, WY not Evanston, Illinois
- it's approx 60 miles from Ft Bridger, WY to Rock Springs, WY
- in the last phone call David made to my aunt, he said when his bike broke down, he had to push it to the truck stop
- he initially feared the man who fixed his bike but that after the other motorcyclist fixed his bike he thought he was OK
- the man who fixed David's bike did not charge him for the repair - there was no argument about pay
- David had blonde/light brown hair
- it wasn't 9 days before he was reported missing - it was approx that long before the sheriff's dept found his motorcycle, abandoned w/the key in the ignition


David disappeared just before his birthday, Aug 29 and it has now been 25 years since we've seen or heard from him. We love & miss him very much. Again, thank you all for your help and thank you for caring.

 

[Kat]

Welcome to Websleuths Klovely. Prayers that David comes home soon to you.

 

[klovely]

David was initially afraid of the man who fixed his bike. He did not approach this man - the other cyclist approached him & offered to look at his bike. He fixed it on the spot & it did not require parts or a lot of labor. David was not mechanically inclined, he didn't know what was wrong with his bike or why it was repaired so easily, without parts. He was not charged for the repair. It appeared that whatever the problem was, the stranger fixed it.

 

[Jbrown324320]

thanks for clearing up the information. Do you think that the stranger mechanic could have grabbed David after being so nice to him? I hope and pray you find your brother.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

*bump* for David. Missing 26 years today.

 

[M86]

klovely, thanks for the information, and I'm sorry for the pain you and your family have gone through. I tried to find where exactly he was last seen (County Road 201) and where his motorcycle was found (Baxter Road) on Google Maps, but I wasn't successful. I was just curious to see if I could see the locations on StreetView. Not sure if you check this thread at all, but you mentioned Rock Springs, Wyoming which is to the east of Fort Bridger and Evanston... Just curious, what is the significance of Rock Springs?

That area is so remote, with very little population. That makes me think that the man he was afraid of had something to do with his disappearance. But if the man was a mechanic, wouldn't police interview all of the mechanics in the area, and especially at the truck stop? I really wonder what made David afraid of the initial mechanic?

Possibly, the initial mechanic (the one he was afraid of) wanted a rather high payment for his work, and the other motorcyclist came along, and offered to do it for free. This may have angered the initial mechanic?

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

BUMPING for David, missing 27 years today.

 

[KurtieB]

klovely, thanks for the information, and I'm sorry for

Possibly, the initial mechanic (the one he was afraid of) wanted a rather high payment for his work, and the other motorcyclist came along, and offered to do it for free. This may have angered the initial mechanic?

I found s. Baxter Road on google maps -
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&b...a=X&ei=hkVOUI7MM8ioiQKOnICQCQ&ved=0CC0Q8gEwAA

I know what you're thinking, but after reading her post, there is only one mechanic. David was intially afraid of the man who helped him. David did not ask for help from the man. The man offered to look at the bike after seeing David in obvious distress and was able to fix David's bike without charge. There are a lot of gruff looking people who are actually quite nice and helpful, so I can't read too much into David's impressions of the man initially.

Thinking about this case, and also about the kid who disappeared on the Harley in San Jose in the late 1970s - Gus Hoffman - (who was murdered by a gang after they intimidated him into going into a garage and beat him to death in order to steal his motorcycle), I'm thinking the same sort of case here is possible.

David was riding his cycle on the road it was found on. He had California plates (most likely). Someone may have followed him for a while. It was deserted you can expect (it looks deserted now, even), and they got him to pull over and get into a car. So, they followed him around, harassed and intimidated him, but then offered him a ride, and he took it.

Another possibility is, his bike broke down there again. If the guy fixed it without tools, he may have told David he needed to get it to a proper mechanic soon - the temporary fix would not last long. Or maybe, it just didn't last long, and the bike broke down. In the days without cellphones, he ended up walking around out there until he was picked up by someone or fell into the canyon.

There is also the chance that the guy who fixed it followed him. But the main point here is, the other guy was on a bike, too. So, it's not like he would have an easy time taking the kid by force like someone with a car or truck would.

The other scenario, which I would think best explains the bike's final location is:

The bike was found 9 days after he vanished, and it could have been driven there and left by the person(s) responsible for David's disappearance at any point in the 9 days. Someone followed a cohort in a car, and they dropped off the bike in a random remote place. In that case, something happened to him within a few hours after the Bingo truck stop. If he'd survived the entire day, or made it somewhere else, he'd have called his aunt, I think. So, he got taken within no more than several hours of his last sighting. I don't quite see why he would have gone to S. Baxter Road alone - it doesn't make a lot of sense. It is so remote that his bike was located by 'campers' 9 days later. It probably was driven and left there by someone. I wonder if they fingerprinted the bike?
It sounds like they failed to do so or it would have been mentioned.

 

[Lundberg99]

KurtieB,

He was reported missing prior to 9 days but it took that time before his bike was found. There was heavy rain in that area so unfirtunately the bike couldn't be fingerprinted At least thats what my mother was told.

We don't believe he went there alone. It was way too isolated and he wasn't familiar with the area at all.

(Davids sister)

 

[KurtieB]

KurtieB,

He was reported missing prior to 9 days but it took that time before his bike was found. There was heavy rain in that area so unfirtunately the bike couldn't be fingerprinted At least thats what my mother was told.

We don't believe he went there alone. It was way too isolated and he wasn't familiar with the area at all.

(Davids sister)

Thanks for the info. This case haunts me - it's completely inexplicable. There are a handful of cases that are like this. David's is one. Michael Negrete is another. The case of Arrowood in 1975 is a very similar case that is unsolved, but it's obvious what happened. In that case, which has a different premise, the young man was involved with married woman and her husband obviously handled the issue.

He said to a friend the night he disappeared that he was being followed by the husband. The friend saw a man in a car and thought they were being followed. Arrowood's car was later found with the keys in the ignition, the door open, and him completely disappeared. On the side of the car was a pair of men's underwear. He's never been found.

I think what happened is obvious. The husband, who knew of the affair and had told the wife and Arrowood to break it off (but they didn't), must have found Arrowood's underwear in his wife's belongings. He then followed the young man around, confronted him at his (Arrowood's) apartment and showed him the proof that the affair was still ongoing, and then tosed the garments on the ground before forcing Arrowood into his car at gunpoint or some such. Then what he did is anyone's guess, but Arrowood's been gone ever since.

 

[Bubblyone]

Bump for David

 

[scriptgirl]

I don't believe in any way shape or form that this was about a financial dispute or robbery. Seems to me this crime was sexually motivated. That guy in the Shasta Groene case-do we know his whereabouts when David disappeared?