Account
Jul 11, 2013
Jun 19, 2023
Marty
Small
90
47
68 inches
160 lbs
180 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
In the autumn of 1981, the life of 47-year-old Marty Dean Small took an inexplicable turn, leaving his loved ones with a void of information that has spanned decades. On the evening of November 19, Marty, a male resident of Seattle, Washington, was a guest at a holiday cruise on Lake Union. The event was held for patients of the local VA hospital, where Marty was residing in the psychiatric ward, and was sponsored by the hospital with members of the Elks Club serving as chaperones. The cruise took place aboard the Coast Guard Cutter ‘Fir’. Marty was described as a white male, standing 5'8" tall and weighing between 160 and 180 pounds, with large dark blue eyes and blond hair that had recently been given a permanent wave. On the day he vanished, he was thought to be wearing a green down jacket, denim jeans, and sneakers, and possibly a gold chain choker necklace. The cruise was intended to be a pleasant outing, but it concluded with a mystery. When the Coast Guard Cutter ‘Fir’ docked back at Lake Union where the evening began, the chaperones could only account for 28 of the 29 patients who had boarded. Marty Small was the one who was missing. A search of the vessel commenced, but Marty was nowhere to be found. Adding to the perplexing situation, his wallet was discovered left behind on the ship. He has not been seen or heard from since that night. Despite searches of the surrounding waters, his remains have never been recovered. The investigation into Marty's disappearance was handled by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. His case is a deeply unsettling one, marked by the unusual circumstance of disappearing from a contained environment like a ship. Before his disappearance, Marty had been diagnosed with manic-depressive disorder and had experienced suicidal ideation. In 1989, though he was never found, a death certificate was filed, and he has since been presumed to have drowned. The case remains an open wound for his family, who continue to seek definitive answers about what happened to him on that fall evening. The overview of the case is one of profound and unresolved loss; a man on a supervised holiday outing vanished without a trace, leaving only his wallet and a series of unanswered questions that have endured for more than forty years.
Nov 19, 1981
Seattle
Washington
King County
98119
No
22670
Naval Criminal Invest. Service
Seattle
Washington
,
24JAN14-NWWH-7HNA
Naval Criminal Invest. Service
Blond/Strawberry
Blue
Blue
No
06/23/2026
