TRIED REACHING OUT TO THE SON WHEN WRITING THIS ENTRY. GOT NO RESPONSE. DEDICATED A SONG TO THIS ENTRY BELOW.
SHURLOCK
UPDATE 10/1/19: THIS ENTRY (AMONG OTHERS I'VE WROTE) HAS BEEN PLAGIARIZED. I ACTUALLY CONFRONTED THE AUTHOR OF THE THREAD ON REDDIT. SHE PLAYED STUPID. (blessed_Momma5) IF SHE WERE TRULY BLESSED. YOU'D THINK SHE WOULD BE ABLE TO WRITE HER OWN SHIT.
THIS ONE DIDN'T PLAGIARIZE ANYTHING OTHER THAN MY TITLE FOR MY ENTRY. THEY DID IN FACT CREDIT ME AT LEAST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.
ALSO A BIG FUCK YOU GOES OUT TO YOUTUBE. I EDITED THE EPISODE FEATURING THE SEGMENT AND UPLOADED IT TO MY YOUTUBE PAGE SO I COULD USE IT IN THE ENTRY. THEY TOOK IT DOWN. COPYRIGHT BULLSHIT. I COMPRESSED IT AND UPLOADED IT STRAIGHT TO BLOGGER. BUT STILL. FUCK YOUTUBE.
BLUE ON BLACK
Unsolved Mysteries Segment
Date Of Birth: 7-25-1958
Date Missing: 3-14-1998 Strong City, Oklahoma
Height: 5'10
Weight: 200 lbs
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Grey
Wicked Cool Handlebar Mustache!
Clothing: Hood Faded Black Coat, Green Jeans, Brown and Black Hiking Boots, And a Green and Brown Hat with Acco Feeds on front.
NCIC NUMBER- M-106037903
DOE NETWORK CASE NUMBER- 3373DMOK
AGENCY CASE NUMBER- RM-98-06
DETAILS OF DISAPPEARANCE
On the morning of March 14th 1998, (Saturday Morning) Leonard awoke at his farmhouse in Strong City, Oklahoma along with his son Jared who lived with him at the time and had breakfast. Either after or during breakfast a man pulled up on the family farm. According to Leonard's son the Person of Interest was driving a White 1994 Ford F-150 (Some reports say it was a standard cab. And others report it had an extended cab)Truck with a Yellow Tag on the front. It's unknown if it was a stylized or if it was an out of state plate. I've read where it was possibly a New Mexico plate. The Person of Interest was described as having a full Reddish Brown Beard and wore a baseball hat with the words "No Fear" printed on the front. He was in his early 40's and about 6'2 and around 210 lbs, Right Handed, and possibly Smoked Marlboro Light Cigarettes. He was wearing Blue Jeans, a Striped Western Shirt and a Blue Jacket. However Jared did state that he did not get a good look at him. Leonard told his son the man wanted to view a horse that he had for sale. And that he would be back later. He told his son that he planned to travel to Elk City, Oklahoma and to Mobeetie, Texas that day. That was around 9 am that day. It isn't known which place they planned to travel to first. He was to return later that evening. Neither him nor the Person of Interest have been seen since. Leonard left his uncashed paycheck at home. And there has been no activity on his cell phone or credit cards since. He had maybe $150 on him when he disappeared. Family members and LE turned out to look for unreported car accidents to no avail. It's been reported that Leonard never advertised horses for sale. At the time Leonard was facing very hard financial issues. His credit cards were maxed out. His Dairy Farm business folded in December of 97. Three months before he disappeared. He was also in debt. He recently went through a divorce. He was apparently working for a local Metal Company at the time he went missing.
Possible Sightings:
A server in Elk City stated they waited on a table with a man who resembled Dirickson at around 11 am the day he disappeared. (Ironic that this was ELK CITY where he told his son he might go.) The establishment in question is the Kettle Restaurant. Authorities believe the server to be mistaken. Due to the fact that he had breakfast around two hours before and his family members stated it was uncharacteristic for him to eat again soon after. (Yeah, Who EVER does that? That's the reason?)
6 Months later, LE received a call from an unknown man at a bar in Amarillo, Texas. The caller claimed to be sitting next to Leonard Dirickson at the time. He also claimed he knew him. By the time authorities arrived both men had since left. LE even sat at the bar a better part of a day and still got nothing.
Neither sighting has been verified. The local Sheriff at the time stated he thought that Leonard was still out there somewhere.
LINKS
WEBSLEUTHS
CHARLEY PROJECT
NAMUS
DOE NETWORK
NORTH AMERICAN MISSING PERSONS NETWORK
UNSOLVED.COM
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES WIKI
REDDIT THREAD
THE OKLAHOMAN 7/24/2000
MY ISSUES WITH THE CASE
Ok, Where do I begin? The description of the Person of Interest. Jared only saw him partially. And very briefly. Yet we have a very good description of a man that was sitting in a truck around 50 feet away through a glass window and windshield. Yet reports can't decide on whether it was an extended cab or standard on the truck. Which would be a helluva lot easier to tell than this description would be. Which leads me to believe there is more that LE hasn't told us. Why else would the Sheriff believe he was alive? Could be that there is no evidence that he is deceased or that foul play was involved. But I did find these on ZabaSearch.
They are interesting. But they could be a trolling attempt also. And as this is a quick entry. I didn't follow up on this info as of yet. But this is something I might come back and look at.
PERSON OF INTEREST
ARTICLES
Officials still searching for man 4/25/98
Posted: Saturday, April 25, 1998
Web posted Saturday, April 25, 1998 6:28 a.m. CT
Officials still searching for man
Law enforcement authorities continue the search for a Strong City, Okla., man last seen more than a month ago.
Leonard Dirickson, 39, told his 16-year-old son he was traveling to Elk City, Okla., then to Mobeetie to look at horses, according to Dirickson's father Don Dirickson.
Leonard Dirickson was not seen in Elk City or Mobeetie, Don Dirickson said. Don Dirickson said his grandson saw Leonard Dirickson leave with an unidentified man in a newer-model white Ford pickup about 9 a.m. March 14. Don Dirickson said his son was a passenger in the unidentified man's pickup. Don Dirickson said his grandson did not get a very good look at the unidentified man.
"He saw him from about 50 feet away through a picture window," he said.
Don Dirickson said the pickup had a yellow tag on front and might have been a New Mexico license plate.
"We are very concerned," Don Dirickson said. "This has been tough."
"As far as I know, my son had no enemies. It's not like him to just leave and not come back. He's never done that before."
1998 Amarillo Globe-NewsWebmaster
Officials still searching for man 4/25/98
ELK CITY - Jared Dirickson's heart overflows with joy each time he is reunited with his father, Leonard.
Then he wakes up.
Jared Dirickson, 18, now only sees his father in his dreams or in the few photographs scattered about his grandparents' rural Elk City home.
He also sees his father occasionally on old, tattered fliers still taped to doors and windows of area businesses. Fliers that read: missing.
Under normal circumstances, Jared, his younger sister, Connie, and the rest of the Dirickson family would celebrate Leonard Dirickson's 42nd birthday Tuesday, but few things have been normal the past two years.
Not since March 14, 1998. Not since Leonard Dirickson was last seen at his Strong City farm climbing into a truck with a stranger to view stud horses.
That morning, Jared Dirickson - then 16 - watched his father drive off and out of his life. Leonard Dirickson vanished.
Two years later Jared Dirickson and his relatives ask the same question: Is Leonard Dirickson dead or alive?
"I love him a lot," Jared Dirickson said. "I wish I could see him again. I pray to God he will let me see him again."
Investigators also have been confounded by the disappearance. "We really don't know what happened," said Joe Hay, Roger Mills County sheriff. "We know as much now as the first day he was reported missing."
The questions trouble Dirickson's parents. So does the unknown.
"What could have possibly happened?" asked Don Dirickson, 73, Leonard Dirickson's father. "Where could he possibly be? You could imagine 1,000 different things. You just don't know."
At age 18, Dirickson married a high school sweetheart named Kathy, and together they built a dairy business in Strong City. The Diricksons divorced in 1996, splintering the family with a bitter battle for the couple's two children.
Connie, now 16, lived with her mother in Hammon. Jared Dirickson refused to live with his mother and only began talking to her again last year. He lives with his grandparents.
After the divorce, the Dirickson's dairy business folded because of plummeting prices and high feed costs. Dirickson sold out in December 1997 - three months before he vanished.
"Leonard was having a lot of financial problems," Hay said. "I don't even think his family realized how bad it was."
In January, Dirickson found work at a local metal company and told his parents he liked it. He enjoyed the work so much, in fact, his father thought about buying the company for his son.
Then he was gone.
Relatives think he had less than $150 on him that day. His last paycheck was not cashed. His credit cards, although maxed out, have had no activity on them.
"Now every time I read in the paper or hear on the news that a body was found, I wonder," his mother, Norma Dirickson, 69, said. "I have to check to see if it's Leonard. I've even walked all the canyons around here to see if I might find him.
"In my heart, I know something bad has happened. He wouldn't have left Jared. They were just too close."
Investigators have their doubts.
In September 1998 - six months after Dirickson disappeared - the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation received a call from a man in an Amarillo, Texas, bar. The man claimed he knew Dirickson and that Dirickson was in the same bar.
"By the time authorities could check on it, no one could be found," Hay said. "Not even the guy who made the call. We've gone down there, and sat in that bar all night long. Nothing.
"We don't know if he's still alive, but I'm convinced he's still out there somewhere."
Don Dirickson hopes the sheriff is right.
"If he's alive, I just want him to come back home," he said. "Jared needs him worse than we do."
Leonard Dirickson, shown with son Jared and daughter Connie, has been missing for more than two years.
1998 Amarillo Globe-NewsWebmaster
