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1259DMMI - Perry Otto Corlew
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Name: Perry Otto Corlew
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: March 15, 1974
Location Last Seen: Grayling, Crawford County, Michigan
Physical Description
Date of Birth: July 5, 1956Age: 18 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2" - 6'4"
Weight: 155 - 165 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Green
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Light complexion and thin build. He smashed his left thumb in a car door when he was young. He wears glasses. His shoe size is 12 1/2.
Identifiers
Dentals: Not Available. Some fillings, nothing major.Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: UnknownJewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Glasses
Circumstances of Disappearance
At approximately 8:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on March 15, 1974, Corlew got into a fender-bender in front of Grayling's Rialto Theater in a car he had just purchased. Instead of waiting for police, he took off. This was the last time anyone saw him.About 90 minutes later, a passing trucker alerted police that Corlew's car was sitting on the side of I-75 about 15 miles south of Grayling. The engine was still running, the headlights were on and the driver's side door was open. Corlew was nowhere to be seen. Police from Crawford and Roscommon counties called to the scene were baffled. There were no footprints in the snow and no witnesses to what happened. The family has speculated that Corlew fled the scene of the accident because he was on probation for a breaking and entering and had a poor driving record. A police report said Corlew may have gone to downstate Michigan or Florida. His friends said he had talked of going to California.
In 1978, his parents thought they had spotted Perry standing in an unemployment line on a national television newscast. With the help of WPBN-WTOM TV in Traverse City, they tracked down the report but could not verify the place where the footage was taken because it was shot by a free-lance photographer.
Local police and the FBI reopened the case in 1992 and a photo was generated of what Perry would look like at the age of 40. Also in 1992, his brother Michael received a telephone call from someone mimicking cartoon character voices, which Michael and Perry used to do. The caller asked Michael what he thought of the voices, but hung up without identifying himself.
When the Corlews tried to get a copy of Perry's dental record, they found that the Grayling Police had sent the originals of the records to a sheriff's department in Louisiana in connection with a case involving an unidentified suicide victim in 1975. The Louisiana Department, in turn, lost the records.
Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Crawford County Sheriff DepartmentAgency Contact Person: Detective R. Meyers
Agency Phone Number: (989) 348-4616
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 200435-74
Agency Name: Grayling City Hall
Agency Contact Person: Chief Doug Baum
Agency Phone Number:
989) 348-4621Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: N/A
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 9147
Information Source(s)
NamUsThe Traverse City Record-Eagle
Official Cold Case Investigations
MLive
9 & 10 News
Grayling City Hall
edited by staff to add media link
PERRY OTTO CORLEW: Missing from Grayling, MI since 15 Mar 1974 - Age 18
At approximately 8:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on March 15, 1974, Corlew got into a fender-bender in front of Grayling's Rialto Theater in a car he had just purchased. Instead of waiting for police, he took off. This was the last time anyone saw him.
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