Account
Jan 11, 2010
Mar 21, 2024
Roland
Spencer III
43
3
29 inches
34 lbs
American Indian / Alaska Native
Male
In the spring of 1984, a shadow fell over a family in Washington state, one that tragically mirrored a loss they had already endured. Three-year-old Roland Jack Spencer III, a Native American boy with black hair, brown eyes, and a scar on his abdomen, vanished on May 25, 1984. He was last seen in the vicinity of Knight Lane and Campbell Road in the Toppenish/Wapato area of the Yakama Indian Reservation. Roland, who was affectionately called "Do-Boy," was wearing a red long-sleeved t-shirt with white stripes on the sleeves, brown corduroy pants, and tan boots. His disappearance was especially heartbreaking as his mother, Celestine Faye Spencer, had also gone missing and was found deceased just two years prior. After his mother's death, Roland had been living with his great-aunt. Roland was a child with notable vulnerabilities; he was mentally disabled, had hearing loss, and suffered from epilepsy, which required medication to prevent seizures that could lead to a coma. His physical mobility was also limited, as he could only walk about twelve feet before falling. His vocabulary was limited to just a few words: "Mama," "Dada," and "Do." On the day he went missing, Roland was playing with other children in the yard of his family's home when he disappeared. The immediate search for him was extensive, with authorities draining irrigation ditches and using helicopters and canine units, but the dogs were unable to pick up his scent. No trace of him was found. Decades have passed since Roland Spencer III was last seen, and his case remains unsolved, leaving his loved ones with a profound and unanswered loss. Authorities have long presumed that he was abducted by a non-family member. Tragically, in the year 2000, Roland was declared legally dead. The pain of his disappearance is compounded by the history of his family; his mother Celestine's death in 1982 was ruled accidental hypothermia, but in 2009 the FBI reopened her case along with those of fifteen other women who died on or near the Yakama Indian Reservation in the 1980s and early 1990s. The case of Roland Spencer III is a haunting story of a vulnerable child who vanished from his own yard, a mystery that endures and highlights the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
May 25, 1984
Toppenish
Washington
Yakima County
Yes
26269
Yakama Nation Tribal Police
Toppenish
Washington
Yakima County
98948
50 Wishpoosh Road, Washington
5098652933
Tribal
Law Enforcement
405273
Yakama Nation Tribal Police
Black
Brown
Brown
06/01/2026
