Edward Carl Ellson, born October 26, 1872, was 70 when he was last seen on October 21, 1943, after leaving his home near Askov in Pine County, Minnesota. That morning a neighbor drove him several miles; Ellson then continued on foot toward a wooded area west of Willow River to retrieve a bicycle he had left there the day before. His family worried because his health had been declining in the weeks before he vanished and feared he may have become disoriented in the dense woods.

Searchers found the bicycle and reported signs that Ellson had kept traveling through the timber, but those clues did not reveal his route or destination. Heavy rain and the heavily forested terrain hampered the search. Sheriff Hannes Rypkema of Pine County and Sheriff Ned Price of Aitkin County coordinated a large volunteer effort with forest rangers, concentrating searches west and northwest of the Aitkin-Pine county line about ten miles west of Willow River.

Ellson and his wife had lived on a farm west of Willow River for many years; several sons were serving in the armed forces in 1943, while others lived and worked locally. Despite extensive searches, Edward Carl Ellson was never located and no definitive explanation has been established.