IA EUGENE MARTIN: Missing from Des Moines, IA - 12 Aug 1984 - Age 13

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NCMEC: Have you seen this child? Eugene Martin
NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Eugene's photo is shown age-progressed to 49 years. He was last seen between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. as he was delivering newspapers. A paper bag was found outside of Des Moines with papers still inside. He has a scar on his right knee and has had a broken right wrist.

edited by staff to add media link

EUGENE MARTIN has been missing from Des Moines, #IOWA since 12 Aug 1984 - Age 13

Witnesses last observed Eugene Martin speaking to a unidentified white male in the vicinity of Southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive in Des Moines, Iowa sometime between 5 and 5:45 a.m. Between 6:10 and 6:15 Martin's newspaper bag was found on...

www.crimewatchers.net

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Eugene age progression to Age 39

 

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Eugene Wade Martin – The Charley Project

Missing Since: 08/12/1984
Missing From: Des Moines, Iowa
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Sex: Male
Race: White
Date of Birth: 08/17/1970 (49)
Age: 13 years old
Height and Weight: 5'0, 110 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A gray and white striped midriff t-shirt with red sleeves, blue jeans and blue Trax sneakers with white diagonal stripes.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Eugene has a scar on his right knee. One of his wrists has a healed fracture. His nickname is Gene.


Details of Disappearance
Eugene was last seen between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. on August 12, 1984 in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. He was preparing to start delivering his morning newspaper route at the time. He normally delivered the papers with his older stepbrother, but his stepbrother was not with him that day.

Witnesses saw Eugene talking to a man between 5:00 and 5:15 a.m. at southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive. The man is described as clean-cut, and he appeared to be in his thirties. He has never been identified. They were reportedly engaged in friendly conversation.

Eugene's route manager called his family at approximately 7:15 a.m. to report that Eugene's newspaper sack had not been retrieved from the corner of southwest 14th and Highview Streets. The manager called the family back 15 minutes later around 7:30 a.m. and reported that the papers were still unclaimed. Eugene's father then called the authorities. Eugene has not been seen nor heard from again.

Eugene disappeared from the same vicinity where John Gosch was last seen in 1982. It is not known if the two cases are related, but both boys were newspaper carriers in the Des Moines area.

Eugene enjoyed football, fishing, skating, watching television and playing video games at the time of his disappearance. His father and stepmother divorced sometime after he went missing, and now both of his parents are deceased. His case remains unsolved.

 

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August 12, 1984 — Eugene Martin
Eugene Martin got an early start at 5 a.m. to deliver the Des Moines Register newspaper on his regular paper route. His older brother normally accompanied him, but on this day Eugene went alone; the Iowa State Fair was in town, and Eugene wanted to earn some extra money to spend at the fair.

Sometime between 5 and 5:45 a.m., residents living near Southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive observed Gene speaking to a clean-cut white male in his 30s. The teen folded papers as he spoke to the man, and the witnesses said the conversation appeared friendly — almost like a “father-son” sort of conversation.

Less than an hour later, sometime between 6:10 and 6:15, the boy’s newspaper bag was found on the ground outside Des Moines — 10 folded papers still inside.

Authorities issued a nationwide bulletin for a man described as between 30 and 40 years old, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, clean shaven and with a medium build. Federal agents wondered if Eugene’s disappearance might be connected to that of missing Register paperboy Johnny Gosch, 12, who’d gone missing two years earlier on September 5, 1982.

Eugene Martin’s aunt, Jeannie McDowell, told WHO-TV’s Aaron Brilbeck in a July 2010 Iowa Cold Cases segment that she believed her dying brother — Eugene’s father Don Martin, in the final stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and also suffering from cancer — was hanging on and needed some type of closure in his son’s disappearance before he could let himself go. Gene’s mother, Janice, had recently died from diabetes without ever knowing what happened to her child.

Don continued to read and clip from daily papers every article or reference he could find about Eugene, McDowell said.

But like his wife, Don Martin died still waiting for answers; he passed away on December 27, 2010.

Many Iowans believe both Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin were kidnapped and sold into a pedophile sex ring, though nothing has ever been proven to support the theory.

Martin’s remaining family members — like Johnny Gosch’s mother Noreen — continue to wait and hope for the one strong lead that breaks open the case and provides long-awaited answers and justice.

 

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WHO-TV Channel 13 (Des Moines) report on the unsolved 1984 disappearance of Des Moines paperboy Eugene Martin. Air date July 8, 2010.

 

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Trace Evidence recently did a very good and in depth episode on Eugene's abduction.

 

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COLD CASE SPOTLIGHT: Johnny Gosch

In 1982, Johnny Gosch became one of the first children to be featured on milk cartons across the country, after he vanished while on his paper route.

www.nbcnews.com

In 1982, Johnny Gosch became one of the first children to be featured on milk cartons across the country, after he vanished while on his regular paper route in Des Moines, Iowa.

Over 32 years later, little is known about what happened to Johnny on September 5th, 1982. While investigators and his family believe he was kidnapped, they have never uncovered evidence that supports that. To date, they have no suspects and no arrests made. Two years later in 1984, another paperboy, Eugene Martin, also went missing out of the Des Moines area. Police have never established a connection between the two cases.

 

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Map showcasing the close proximity between where Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin were abducted.

 

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Witnesses last observed Eugene Martin speaking to a unidentified white male in the vicinity of Southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive in Des Moines, Iowa sometime between 5 and 5:45 a.m. Between 6:10 and 6:15 Martin's newspaper bag was found on the ground at the corner of southwest 14th and Highview Streets with the newspapers inside.

 

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Brother of Eugene Martin remains hopeful case will be solved nearly four decades after disappearance

Saturday marks 39 years since the disappearance of Eugene Martin. Martin was delivering newspapers in Des Moines when he went missing.

www.kcci.com

Brother of Eugene Martin remains hopeful case will be solved nearly four decades after disappearance​

Saturday marks 39 years since the disappearance of Eugene Martin, who was delivering newspapers in Des Moines when he went missing.


"As kids, we would ride our bikes all day; play around," said Donald Dellaca, Martin's older brother.

KCCI spoke with Dellaca over the phone on Friday.

He continues to hold out hope that answers will come in his brother's disappearance.

"I would just like someone that knows something to come forth," Dellaca said.


Thirty-nine years later, Des Moines police say the search remains open and ongoing.

In a statement sent to KCCI Friday, DMPD said "Cases such as this don't grow "cold" due to a lack of interest from investigators or the community, but rather they stall as investigative leads are exhausted and new leads come infrequently. This remains a case of significant interest for the Des Moines Police Department."


"He was a great guy," Dellaca said.

"My mom and dad never gave up on him," Kim Dellaca said in 2022. "So as long as they thought he was still out there, I assume the same thing."

 

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https://who13.com/news/42-years-later-paperboy-eugene-martins-family-still-searching-for-answers/

42 years later, paperboy Eugene Martin’s family still searching for answers​

Still no answers and no arrests in the disappearance of Johnny Gosch. He went missing in 1982 while delivering newspapers in West Des Moines. Extensive searches and police investigations generated few clues, raising concern in the community.

Then, two years later, it happened again in Des Moines. Thirteen-year-old Eugene Martin disappeared, also while delivering newspapers.

This month marks the 42nd anniversary of Martin’s disappearance- more than four decades without answers.

“I really never met anyone as happy as he was,” Kimberly Dellaca told WHO 13’s Katie Kaplan.

Dellaca was 16 years old when her little brother vanished from his paper route.

“Before Gene disappeared, I was in a happy-go-lucky family,” she said.

Eugene was delivering the Sunday morning paper on August 12, 1984, in a southside neighborhood. His book bag was found on the ground around 6 a.m. There has been no other verified trace of him since.

“When it did happen, it felt like a nightmare,” Delaca recalled. “It felt like a nightmare that you just never wake up from.”

Over the years, the family has had very little information. Delaca said virtually no clues were ever discovered after he vanished. However, she has held on to hope that Eugene could still be alive, especially in light of a letter that arrived two years ago claiming as much.

“You think, ‘Well, maybe he’ll pop up one day. Maybe he’s still around,'” she said.

The letter came in the mail and was sent by a stranger who claimed to have met Eugene. Delaca handed it over to police. The FBI did not think it was legitimate, she said.

However, if Eugene is still out there- she says she would love to hear from him.

“If my brother is out there hiding, if he could let me know,” she said. “I am still here in Des Moines.”

Delaca believes the case can still be solved, and that it is likely connected to Gosch’s case. While she waits for answers, she finds solace in the memories of her brother, marking each passing year by reminiscing with those who knew him.

“We always get together and talk about Eugene,” she said, speaking of several childhood friends. “I take the day, and I think, ‘Is there anything I can do to help people?'”

She hopes that by raising awareness, she can help prevent another family from experiencing the same pain.

The Des Moines Police Department tells WHO 13 that the Martin case is active and open. Like all unsolved homicides, it is assigned to a detective in the Crimes Against Persons section. Police say leads are followed as they develop or come in.