On a windy Memorial Day weekend in 1984, 20-year-old William Richard Harl, a young man from Thornton, Colorado, traveled with a group of friends to Lake McConaughy near Ogallala, Nebraska, for a holiday outing. On the morning of May 26, at approximately 11:00 a.m., William and his friend, Kevin, decided to go fishing. They set out in a canoe, planning to fish along the south bank of the sprawling lake. William was a white male, stood 6'0" tall, and weighed around 165 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. The holiday mood, however, would soon take a tragic turn as the weather on the lake grew increasingly treacherous.
The wind picked up significantly, creating dangerous conditions on the water with waves reported to be breaking at heights of three to five feet. The turbulent water kept most boaters off the lake that day. When William and Kevin did not return as expected, their friends grew concerned and began searching for them around 12:30 p.m.
Their search through the afternoon yielded no sign of the two young men or their canoe. It wasn't until 4:45 p.m. that a power boat on the north side of the lake, about a quarter-mile west of Arthur Bay, spotted the tip of the canoe sticking out of the water approximately 150 yards from the shore. This grim discovery led to the recovery of Kevin, who had tragically drowned.
Despite the recovery of his friend and the canoe, there was no sign of William Richard Harl. The Keith County Sheriff's Department launched searches in an effort to find him, but their efforts were to no avail. William was never located, and what began as a weekend getaway with friends ended in a devastating loss and a lasting mystery. The case of William Richard Harl is one of a recreational outing turned to tragedy in the face of nature's unforgiving power. While his friend was found, William's disappearance left his family and friends with no answers, only the haunting uncertainty of his final moments on the wind-swept waters of Lake McConaughy. He has remained missing ever since that fateful day in May of 1984.Last Seen: May 26, 1984
