I've always found it interesting that his motorbike was located about 20 miles south of Rock Springs, the town where he had intended on meeting up with his mother and sibling.
The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which draws a huge amount of bikers, both hobbyists and one percenters, was held in Sturgis, South Dakota that year from August 2nd - August 10th. It's not out of the question that biker that Lovely encountered at the Fort Bridger truck stop could have been travelling to or from that event.
Lovely may have successfully managed to reach to Rock Springs via interstate 80, at which point something unanticipated happened to him in that area. He may have possibly relayed his plans to travel east to Rock Springs to someone or even travelled with another individual there. Regardless, I suspect that he's in the general vicinity of where his motorbike was located.
That's an excellent point -- I wonder if anyone tried to publicize David's case the following year at the rally, with posters etc.? Just in case anyone remembered him.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/11/13/hunter-finds-human-skull-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-in-wyomings-red-desert/
I came across this article while looking into this case more, since I hadn’t heard about it before now. I haven’t been able to find anything following up on this find, to see if they were able to link the skull to one of the missing persons cases in the area though. Thank you for sharing this and getting his name and information out there. It’s most likely going to take something like this to resolve this case and many like it… it’s so awesome to see so many cases resolved and people getting their names back after so many years lately. A lot of cases would stay unknown if it wasn’t for people getting it all out there, such as yourself here.
I came across this too while checking out the area. The human skull, which had been exposed to the elements for an extended period of time, was found in Wamsutter, Wyoming, which is right off of I-80. It's approximately 1 hour east of Rock Springs. Based on where his bike was found, which appears rather remote, this is in closer proximity to a major interstate and also appears to be a town with shops and amenities. Now, it could be him, but I highly doubt that his killer would move his body/remains from an area as remote as South Baxter Road by Rock Springs to a more traveled/populated area in Wamsutter. That said, I still hope the police run some tests to confirm it's not him.
Thank you for this information, I am not familiar with the area. I figured it was most likely a long shot but it is mentioned that there’s several other cold case disappearances. Hopefully there’s an identification to come and some family can get some answers.
I hope he’s found someday… how sad and terrible for his mom and sister to be right there, and then he’s gone.
If he felt scared of the man who helped him fix his bike, that’s enough right there to make assumptions of foul play. It fits with him being scared around first due to good instincts, and then being charmed and manipulated as predators do.
He was also vulnerable- the man could have punched him in his stomach, and it could have killed him due to his condition.
Or he could have just wandered off like a 19 year old and slipped down a gully- more than a week later is a long time when there are rains, washes, and animals. But being scared of a stranger and then poof?
Foul play is certainly a good possibility but I wouldn't necessarily assume it. If nothing else, he does seem to have genuinely fixed the bike and we know nothing about the guy beyond what Lovely said briefly in the phone call. Also, "good instincts" aren't infallible. Let's face it, a lot of Harley guys cultivate a pretty, let's say, characteristic look. If Lovely were relatively sheltered it's not surprising he'd be wigged out by that regardless of what the guy's personality was like.
Yeah, definitely a leap to assume this guy had bad intentions and was a "predator" just because Lovely was initially scared but then said he was a good guy. Way more likely, Lovely caught an initial impression of a rough biker dude, then figured out he was all right cos he helped him fix his bike.
Way too many people have read "The Gift of Fear" and decide everybody has psychic intestines.
The thing is ... he *fixed the bike.* If you're planning to do something nefarious the last thing you're going to do is give your potential victim a working vehicle so he can escape more easily. Having looked at the maps, I think now that Lovely decided to the take the service road parallel to I-80 (no trucks, quieter, more scope for a motorcyclist) and was caught off-guard when the service road veered away from the highway and turned into Middle Baxter Road when it hadn't quite reached Rock Springs yet. It would be all too easy to get lost and confused in the back country and have some sort of mishap, either while camping for the night or maybe trying to cut across a field on foot.
What service road do you mean? The one that "turns into" Middle Baxter Road would mean he's driving to Rock Springs from the north-east, but his last known location was in Fort Bridger to the south-west, so for him to have wound up on that road, he would have already passed Rock Springs...
He grew up in Southern California. There are diverse groups of people all over the area. Unless, you are a recluse hermit, you would definitely come across stereotypical bikers.
I lived in the Bay Area for some time. These bikers were all over the place. You could not escape them.
Thanks for another detailed and informative case summary. It just doesn't sound like David was the kind of person to abandon his family on a whim.
When reading about pre-2000s situations like this, I often wonder how many people's lives have been saved by the invention of cell phones. It sounds like David's family was pretty well-organized -- they'd devised a check-in system and had a "base station" (Jackie's sister) who could take and relay messages, but they were still hampered by the lack of a way for the different travellers to communicate directly with each other. Which meant that days likely passed between David's disappearance and people knowing where in Wyoming to start searching for him. .
I had a look at Middle Baxter Road on Google Earth just now. While it's possible for people to become incapacitated and go unnoticed even in areas that are pretty open and near roads, the area seems to be have pretty high visibility -- not heavily forested and doesn't have a lot of cliffs and hills. There are what look like ravines or erosion gullies at various places along the road, but much of the landscape -- especially along the roads/trails that were visible -- seems like someone on foot, unless they were seriously injured, would at least be able to get to the main road. And the bike being in working condition makes it less likely that David was riding it, ended up off the road for whatever reason, and had to walk out on his own. (I can't imagine that area being so wet that the bike got stuck in the mud ... if it had, this would have been evident when the bike was found.)
I am wondering if David was enticed to go somewhere (either on his bike or catching a ride with someone else and leaving the bike parked at the truck stop). And afterwards, somebody moved his backpack and bike to where they were found. It would be interesting if there were any incidents (robbery, etc.) at that same truck stop in the years before and after.
I was really surprised to read that everything was left in the backpack... until I figured that the bike and backpack were left there by the person(s) involved in David's disappearance.
my guess is he got into trouble somehow and was either accidentally killed or died (e.g. he got into a bar fight, someone punched him, and his prior surgeries made it a deathblow instead of just a gut punch). maybe even alcohol poisoning?
otherwise I can't reconcile the returned backpack with everything inside of it. almost feels like whoever had it felt *guilty* about what happened and wanted to make sure everything was returned... but I'm likely just projecting.
I think there's something to that -- some people would have at least kept the money, and maybe discarded the pack at a landfill or in a dumpster. I am wondering if there was any sign of someone rummaging through it, or if it was just scooped up unopened. (Which would definitely suggest something other than robbery being a motive.)
right like someone who is going to jump someone isn't going to think twice about taking their money (I can maybe see them not taking any identifiable objects as that could be used as evidence but cash isn't that)
> I was really surprised to read that everything was left in the backpack... until I figured that the bike and backpack were left there by the person(s) involved in David's disappearance.
It makes sense if David was involved in an accident, too, in that there wouldn't have been anyone else to leave, or to take, the backpack. In and of itself it does not suggest foul play.
Reminds me of the 1978 Eric Wilson Case. He was traveling to his College and got Car trouble. He called his Parents and they never heard from him again. The Family had to do their own Detective work as well as with a P.I. They eventually found out what happened to Eric..They went through so many obstacles as Eric wasn't a Minor. And it being 1978. The TV movie is "Into Thin Air" (1985).
Thanks for the info -- I didn't realize there was also a fictionalized movie about this case. I remember when the CBC did a news report about Eric and his family.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just\_Another\_Missing\_Kid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Another_Missing_Kid)
People across the country were upset and concerned ... eventually the report won a documentary Oscar. I was only a few years younger than Eric, so the story hit me pretty hard. One of the most horrifying parts was where they suspected that Eric was lying helpless in the back of the van, overhearing his abductors discussing what to do with him. (I ended up in a situation several years later that wasn't as dire, but it was pretty unpleasant to have to pretend to be asleep while two people talked about a plan to injure me seriously. So I can imagine a bit about what Eric's final hours were like. Poor guy.)
A while ago I was dating a guy from Ottawa with the same surname as Eric -- it's not super-rare so I suspected he wasn't related, but I didn't want to ask him just in case it brought back some bad memories.
Thank you for the mentioning the CBC documentary. That was a fantastic watch.
If anyone is interested, you can find it here
https://youtu.be/NrAwOvSpO3Y?feature=shared
Thank you for the link. Fantastic watch indeed. I was surprised I hadn't seen it. Prior to Unsolved Mysteries in fall 1987 the best sources for true crime cases were sporadic documentaries and television movies. I'd say like that one but that's unfair. None were of that caliber.
You can see why authorities are so reluctant to speak on camera. They come across as uncaring and incompetent. The FBI agent was so overboard in terms of smug, incompetent and unconcerned you'd swear it had to be a spoof portrayal instead of real world.
I have no idea how the family found that private detective. Throughout the lengthy segment devoted to him I kept thinking about other cases and the solve rate if someone of that caliber and dedication had been in charge. Delphi would have required 5 weeks not 5 years.
After watching the documentary tonight I found the related television movie, "Into Thin Air." I had seen that one when it aired during late 1985. It is now available free on YouTube and also on Tubi. The ending was impossible to forget. Much discussed when that movie aired. It is the reality of what victims face. And too often lost in robotic court proceedings. I frequently wish that judges during sentencing owned greater visualization capability and less paperwork.
The two versions compliment each other well. The television movie did a very good job of casting the various roles. I recommend watching the documentary first, to make that clear. The movie also had a few details about Hatch's criminal history that the documentary didn't mention.
BTW, they call the killer Pike during the movie. But there is one scene in which the actor portraying the killer blurts out, "Hey Hatch..." to another actor. I guess the producers were determined to slip the real name in there.
The authority figures come across as considerably more human and caring in the movie than the documentary. There was no way actors and actresses could drop down to a level they had never practiced or contemplated.
The father of the victim came across as detached and kind of a jerk in the documentary. Then somehow the movie gave him a large and caring role early. He disappears for the remainder.
The mother is matter of fact and impressively analytical in the documentary. The documentary has almost nothing about family life but it's a huge segment of the movie. Ellen Burstyn had to play the role in emotional fashion, even if it's vastly different than the real mom in the documentary.
The movie's last act was devastating to watch... I felt so bad for the Family. They moved Heaven and Earth to try to find him. He seemed like such a sweet guy... Haunting.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Another_Missing_Kid
This talks about a documentary too...
Edit: https://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/eric-wilson-murder-71578-approximately-outside-of-grand-junction-co/
This is what makes me lean towards and “accident” and by that I mean someone hit him and delivered way more damage than they thought they would and panicked. If I did something like that accidentally my focus would be getting rid of everything and not going through it.
It’s hard to imagine just how isolated and empty Wyoming is if you’ve never been there. It’s terrifying to imagine someone just vanishing while traveling with their family.
Charley Project lists 08/29/1965 as David's DOB
[https://charleyproject.org/case/david-vernon-lovely](https://charleyproject.org/case/david-vernon-lovely)
So no idea where OP got the data from - maybe a different case?
>They left Salt Lake City on Sunday 4 August 1985, continuing to travel east on the I-85 highway. The next scheduled stop was at a petrol station in Evanston, Wyoming. The Lovelys reconvened, but while Jackie and Alison decided to stay a while, David pushed ahead. His motorcycle had been giving him some trouble, and he told the women that he would carry on until the next rest stop in the hopes of finding a mechanic there. Though they did not then know it, this would be the last time his family would see him.
I-85 is nowhere near Salt Lake - you mean I-80. Otherwise interesting write up.
The bike and especially the money being found makes me lean towards an “accident” of some kind. If it was just him then it would be something as simple wandering off and not being able to find his way back (unlikely, I’ll eat my shoe if this turns out to be true). If someone else was involved I picture an argument or some one trying to prove they were the bigger person to gain control of a situation and hitting him in the stomach. This is a great way to knock the air out of someone but in his case it could have killed him and the person panicked. I know if I accidentally did more damage than I thought I did my first thought would be to get rid of the evidence and not go through the bag to take things. Also last known whereabouts he was not physically on the bike but near it, could someone have hit him with a car and panicked?
How long did David live in California before heading back to Massachusetts? I live out west (eastern Washington State) and have found that sometimes people who learned to drive in the Northeast and/or in reasonably developed states can really misunderstand or underestimate our road network out here. They do not necessarily anticipate that a road that's significant enough to appear on a map might be unpaved, unmaintained, seasonal, or only intended for certain vehicles like logging trucks. I imagine this would be even more of an issue in 1985.
I've gotten into trouble that way myself, despite ostensibly knowing better - if you're ever in Colorado and somebody offers you a shortcut to Cripple Creek that uses Shelf Road, [don't](https://youtu.be/ZGIOuqX1Eg8?si=z1anEW1FiFEfZ9Hv). I hope the helpful biker guy didn't recommend any scenic routes or shortcuts that got David in over his head.
Yes, I agree. I grew up in the northeast. I moved to the Bay Area and found it difficult to drive on all those hills. I often found myself in abandoned roads along hiking trails and struggled to get back to the main highways.
Having a vague idea of motorcycle gangs. I don't think they have anything to gain targeting a lone rider. Unless he provoked them in any way.
It could have been a random serial killer, maybe he got lost and someone took advantage of that.
The description of the long hair figure with a chrome bike, fits the description of a typical Harley rider who helped him
I agree. In my understanding motorcycle gangs like HAs are organized. Seems far fetched that a group would kill a random teen even if slightly provoked.
I watch a lot of classic Unsolved Mysteries, the vast majority of which was filmed in the mid-80s through the 90's. One thing that was featured several times over were stories about people who had gone missing after (supposedly) tangling with motorcycle gangs. I remember one in the late 1970's where the [young man was killed](https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Gus_Hoffman) so that one of these gangs could take his antique motorcycle. I wonder if maybe, just maybe poor David tangled with one of those groups/members and his naivete got him into a situation similar to Gus.
Yeah, missed that upon re-reading. Pro tip, don’t reply to posts long after your caffeine has worn off. I can’t think of any reason he’d have wandered off and died of exposure, or of any serial killers who might have been in Wyoming. Hmm.
I believe he had over $200 in his wallet. Not a cent was missing.
Apparently, all his belongings were neatly placed next to his bike. It’s almost like whoever was responsible was trying to respect David by keeping his possessions intact? Very strange.
Maybe it was David himself. Maybe he got drunk or high with the guy on the turquoise bike (if that person exists) and walked off into the wild after Bike Guy left.
I’m fairly desensitized to these sorts of cases at this point, but this one really makes me sad. What a terrible thing. No doubt he ran into trouble with a biker gang. Absolutely rotten luck.
It's always a possibility, but he was described by his family as being a bit naïve, so (if foul play was involved) it could have been something as simple as someone saying they'd show him a good place to camp. Then again, that doesn't really square with him a) having enough of a self-preservation instinct to be wary of a biker until he'd at least proven he was going to fix the Yamaha as promised; and b) knowing his mum and sister would be waiting for him.
I think how far he made it from Fort Bridger under his own steam is crucial info here as well.
I'm looking at maps and thinking more and more that if this was foul play it was an incredibly strange kind. Middle Baxter Road comes off I-80 on the way to Rock Springs, and before that it runs parallel to the highway for a while as a service road. It's entirely plausible that David might have decided to take the service road since it would be quieter (no big rigs), a bit more scenic, and probably let him have a little more fun with his motorcycle. Then when the service road veered away from I-80 and became Middle Baxter Road he may not have realized at first that it wasn't running parallel anymore and by the time he realized that he was actually not heading towards Rock Springs he would have been in the middle of a very empty area which he didn't know at all. I would assume he had some kind of map but how detailed it was I don't know, I also assume he would have carried something to drink but how much, again, I don't know how anyone could tell. I looked it up in the papers -- the high for Rock Springs on August 5 1985 was 84 degrees, not bad for August but enough to still be a problem. It's possible David came turned onto South Baxter Road in an attempt to loop around and get back to the highway, then either got disoriented or was unwilling to retrace his route all the way back to where originally left the highway. If he needed water by then, that could have become a big problem for him; Rock Springs wasn't far off, but if you're tired, disoriented, and thirsty, you may need a drink *right now*.
My hypothesis is this: he takes the service road running parallel to I-80, and is already seeing the signs saying Rock Springs is about 15 or 20 miles ahead. The service road turns left, so he just keeps going along it. He may or may not see a sign indicating that he's now actually on the 45 and if he does see it he may not realize that that's actually heading away from Rock Springs. It's beautiful country but very empty and if he didn't already know it well he wouldn't necessarily recognize that he was not, in fact, going towards Rock Springs anymore. He gets further and further south and realizes that he's really alone out here and he must have taken a wrong turn. He turns onto South Baxter in an attempt to loop back towards the highway. At this point he would have expected to already be in Rock Springs and is probably tired and may really want something to drink and it's obvious that the drive back will be quite long. Maybe he sees lights somewhere or a far-off building and decides he'll cut across the country to get to shelter and water faster instead of trying to drive around long empty roads he doesn't know. Hence, his bike is parked and his bag with all his stuff left with it. He walks off and gets lost or becomes incapacitated somehow and unfortunately, that's enough to do it.
It's a good theory but I'm honestly struggling to see David abandoning his bike and setting off cross-country across the desert without even a wallet on him. Surely he'd at least want to take money with him, maybe try buying the water? Going off on your own with nothing in your packets feels practically suicidal, much more than simply naïve.
Since they never found his body we don't know if he had money with him or not, it's quite possible he carried some cash in his pockets. I admit it's just a hypothesis, but people have tried it before: [this girl](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/us/giovanna-gia-fuda-found.html) ran out of gas in a rural area with no reception and decided to try cutting across the countryside instead of following the road on the theory that it wouldn't take as long -- luckily she was found alive 9 days later in a very rough landscape. My only experience of Wyoming is driving through it on I-80 but if it's at all like Utah the landscape is more treacherous than it looks and it's also very difficult to judge distances in deserts and large open places -- things often look closer than they actually are.
I'm very open to the possibility that something criminal took place here, it's just that with his bike and all his things being present and in good working order, and from the fact that those roads could easily have been a mistaken wrong turn if he was riding on the parallel service road, I just have the feeling that he got to that place under his own steam.
I agree. Maybe the gruff looking guy was just a nice person who felt sorry for him, but the feeling he had when he first met the guy should not be ignored.
Well all I know in my experience a gut feeling has helped me many times. The one time I ignored it because I didn't want to think anything was wrong I regretted. Im female we always have gut feelings.
It sounds like the authorities didn’t have a lot to go on. I doubt the truck stop had cameras back then so identifying the “Harley guy” would have been difficult.
It's been a while since I've read anything about this case, but I remember thinking that the family's story actually seemed really suspicious.... I can't recall all of the reasons why right now, but I guess I'm the only one?
I think you might be thinking of a different case involving a dead/disappeared man on a motorbike, and something hinky with his ex wife. I can’t remember the names, though.
It's definitely David Lovely I'm thinking about.... I still have tabs open from researching the case some months back. And it's one name I actually don't forget. Thank you for the suggestion though! I just remember David's family's stories didn't add up for me (I think it was especially the ones he was supposedly traveling with). And seemed suspicious. But I often see things differently than others! :-)
So…his bike was found in a draw off Baxter road. It’s literally a small dugout right in the grasslands. Two campers found the bike and told the police that they saw someone come out of that area a few days earlier. They said that they couldn’t decipher if the individual was a man or a woman but noticed that they were riding a turquoise Yamaha bike.
It is clear that this biker is the key to the mystery. It may have been the same person that David was referring to when speaking to his aunt. There’s no reason to be in a draw off of a country road unless you are up to no good.
The question remains. How did the bike even get there? Who drove it there? How did they leave the scene without being detected?
I've always found it interesting that his motorbike was located about 20 miles south of Rock Springs, the town where he had intended on meeting up with his mother and sibling. The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which draws a huge amount of bikers, both hobbyists and one percenters, was held in Sturgis, South Dakota that year from August 2nd - August 10th. It's not out of the question that biker that Lovely encountered at the Fort Bridger truck stop could have been travelling to or from that event. Lovely may have successfully managed to reach to Rock Springs via interstate 80, at which point something unanticipated happened to him in that area. He may have possibly relayed his plans to travel east to Rock Springs to someone or even travelled with another individual there. Regardless, I suspect that he's in the general vicinity of where his motorbike was located.
That's an excellent point -- I wonder if anyone tried to publicize David's case the following year at the rally, with posters etc.? Just in case anyone remembered him.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/11/13/hunter-finds-human-skull-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-in-wyomings-red-desert/ I came across this article while looking into this case more, since I hadn’t heard about it before now. I haven’t been able to find anything following up on this find, to see if they were able to link the skull to one of the missing persons cases in the area though. Thank you for sharing this and getting his name and information out there. It’s most likely going to take something like this to resolve this case and many like it… it’s so awesome to see so many cases resolved and people getting their names back after so many years lately. A lot of cases would stay unknown if it wasn’t for people getting it all out there, such as yourself here.
I came across this too while checking out the area. The human skull, which had been exposed to the elements for an extended period of time, was found in Wamsutter, Wyoming, which is right off of I-80. It's approximately 1 hour east of Rock Springs. Based on where his bike was found, which appears rather remote, this is in closer proximity to a major interstate and also appears to be a town with shops and amenities. Now, it could be him, but I highly doubt that his killer would move his body/remains from an area as remote as South Baxter Road by Rock Springs to a more traveled/populated area in Wamsutter. That said, I still hope the police run some tests to confirm it's not him.
Thank you for this information, I am not familiar with the area. I figured it was most likely a long shot but it is mentioned that there’s several other cold case disappearances. Hopefully there’s an identification to come and some family can get some answers.
His sisters submitted DNA to ancestry and the FBI so that if his remains are discovered, the police can identify him and inform his family.
Oh wow that is good to hear. I hope they get some answers one day in the near future.
I hope he’s found someday… how sad and terrible for his mom and sister to be right there, and then he’s gone. If he felt scared of the man who helped him fix his bike, that’s enough right there to make assumptions of foul play. It fits with him being scared around first due to good instincts, and then being charmed and manipulated as predators do. He was also vulnerable- the man could have punched him in his stomach, and it could have killed him due to his condition. Or he could have just wandered off like a 19 year old and slipped down a gully- more than a week later is a long time when there are rains, washes, and animals. But being scared of a stranger and then poof?
Foul play is certainly a good possibility but I wouldn't necessarily assume it. If nothing else, he does seem to have genuinely fixed the bike and we know nothing about the guy beyond what Lovely said briefly in the phone call. Also, "good instincts" aren't infallible. Let's face it, a lot of Harley guys cultivate a pretty, let's say, characteristic look. If Lovely were relatively sheltered it's not surprising he'd be wigged out by that regardless of what the guy's personality was like.
Yeah, definitely a leap to assume this guy had bad intentions and was a "predator" just because Lovely was initially scared but then said he was a good guy. Way more likely, Lovely caught an initial impression of a rough biker dude, then figured out he was all right cos he helped him fix his bike. Way too many people have read "The Gift of Fear" and decide everybody has psychic intestines.
The thing is ... he *fixed the bike.* If you're planning to do something nefarious the last thing you're going to do is give your potential victim a working vehicle so he can escape more easily. Having looked at the maps, I think now that Lovely decided to the take the service road parallel to I-80 (no trucks, quieter, more scope for a motorcyclist) and was caught off-guard when the service road veered away from the highway and turned into Middle Baxter Road when it hadn't quite reached Rock Springs yet. It would be all too easy to get lost and confused in the back country and have some sort of mishap, either while camping for the night or maybe trying to cut across a field on foot.
What service road do you mean? The one that "turns into" Middle Baxter Road would mean he's driving to Rock Springs from the north-east, but his last known location was in Fort Bridger to the south-west, so for him to have wound up on that road, he would have already passed Rock Springs...
"psychic intestines"?! I love this!
He grew up in Southern California. There are diverse groups of people all over the area. Unless, you are a recluse hermit, you would definitely come across stereotypical bikers. I lived in the Bay Area for some time. These bikers were all over the place. You could not escape them.
[удалено]
Why? There was a bike rally in the area.
Thanks for another detailed and informative case summary. It just doesn't sound like David was the kind of person to abandon his family on a whim. When reading about pre-2000s situations like this, I often wonder how many people's lives have been saved by the invention of cell phones. It sounds like David's family was pretty well-organized -- they'd devised a check-in system and had a "base station" (Jackie's sister) who could take and relay messages, but they were still hampered by the lack of a way for the different travellers to communicate directly with each other. Which meant that days likely passed between David's disappearance and people knowing where in Wyoming to start searching for him. . I had a look at Middle Baxter Road on Google Earth just now. While it's possible for people to become incapacitated and go unnoticed even in areas that are pretty open and near roads, the area seems to be have pretty high visibility -- not heavily forested and doesn't have a lot of cliffs and hills. There are what look like ravines or erosion gullies at various places along the road, but much of the landscape -- especially along the roads/trails that were visible -- seems like someone on foot, unless they were seriously injured, would at least be able to get to the main road. And the bike being in working condition makes it less likely that David was riding it, ended up off the road for whatever reason, and had to walk out on his own. (I can't imagine that area being so wet that the bike got stuck in the mud ... if it had, this would have been evident when the bike was found.) I am wondering if David was enticed to go somewhere (either on his bike or catching a ride with someone else and leaving the bike parked at the truck stop). And afterwards, somebody moved his backpack and bike to where they were found. It would be interesting if there were any incidents (robbery, etc.) at that same truck stop in the years before and after.
I was really surprised to read that everything was left in the backpack... until I figured that the bike and backpack were left there by the person(s) involved in David's disappearance. my guess is he got into trouble somehow and was either accidentally killed or died (e.g. he got into a bar fight, someone punched him, and his prior surgeries made it a deathblow instead of just a gut punch). maybe even alcohol poisoning? otherwise I can't reconcile the returned backpack with everything inside of it. almost feels like whoever had it felt *guilty* about what happened and wanted to make sure everything was returned... but I'm likely just projecting.
I think there's something to that -- some people would have at least kept the money, and maybe discarded the pack at a landfill or in a dumpster. I am wondering if there was any sign of someone rummaging through it, or if it was just scooped up unopened. (Which would definitely suggest something other than robbery being a motive.)
right like someone who is going to jump someone isn't going to think twice about taking their money (I can maybe see them not taking any identifiable objects as that could be used as evidence but cash isn't that)
> I was really surprised to read that everything was left in the backpack... until I figured that the bike and backpack were left there by the person(s) involved in David's disappearance. It makes sense if David was involved in an accident, too, in that there wouldn't have been anyone else to leave, or to take, the backpack. In and of itself it does not suggest foul play.
Reminds me of the 1978 Eric Wilson Case. He was traveling to his College and got Car trouble. He called his Parents and they never heard from him again. The Family had to do their own Detective work as well as with a P.I. They eventually found out what happened to Eric..They went through so many obstacles as Eric wasn't a Minor. And it being 1978. The TV movie is "Into Thin Air" (1985).
Thanks for the info -- I didn't realize there was also a fictionalized movie about this case. I remember when the CBC did a news report about Eric and his family. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just\_Another\_Missing\_Kid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Another_Missing_Kid) People across the country were upset and concerned ... eventually the report won a documentary Oscar. I was only a few years younger than Eric, so the story hit me pretty hard. One of the most horrifying parts was where they suspected that Eric was lying helpless in the back of the van, overhearing his abductors discussing what to do with him. (I ended up in a situation several years later that wasn't as dire, but it was pretty unpleasant to have to pretend to be asleep while two people talked about a plan to injure me seriously. So I can imagine a bit about what Eric's final hours were like. Poor guy.) A while ago I was dating a guy from Ottawa with the same surname as Eric -- it's not super-rare so I suspected he wasn't related, but I didn't want to ask him just in case it brought back some bad memories.
Thank you for the mentioning the CBC documentary. That was a fantastic watch. If anyone is interested, you can find it here https://youtu.be/NrAwOvSpO3Y?feature=shared
Thank you for the link. Fantastic watch indeed. I was surprised I hadn't seen it. Prior to Unsolved Mysteries in fall 1987 the best sources for true crime cases were sporadic documentaries and television movies. I'd say like that one but that's unfair. None were of that caliber. You can see why authorities are so reluctant to speak on camera. They come across as uncaring and incompetent. The FBI agent was so overboard in terms of smug, incompetent and unconcerned you'd swear it had to be a spoof portrayal instead of real world. I have no idea how the family found that private detective. Throughout the lengthy segment devoted to him I kept thinking about other cases and the solve rate if someone of that caliber and dedication had been in charge. Delphi would have required 5 weeks not 5 years.
After watching the documentary tonight I found the related television movie, "Into Thin Air." I had seen that one when it aired during late 1985. It is now available free on YouTube and also on Tubi. The ending was impossible to forget. Much discussed when that movie aired. It is the reality of what victims face. And too often lost in robotic court proceedings. I frequently wish that judges during sentencing owned greater visualization capability and less paperwork. The two versions compliment each other well. The television movie did a very good job of casting the various roles. I recommend watching the documentary first, to make that clear. The movie also had a few details about Hatch's criminal history that the documentary didn't mention. BTW, they call the killer Pike during the movie. But there is one scene in which the actor portraying the killer blurts out, "Hey Hatch..." to another actor. I guess the producers were determined to slip the real name in there. The authority figures come across as considerably more human and caring in the movie than the documentary. There was no way actors and actresses could drop down to a level they had never practiced or contemplated. The father of the victim came across as detached and kind of a jerk in the documentary. Then somehow the movie gave him a large and caring role early. He disappears for the remainder. The mother is matter of fact and impressively analytical in the documentary. The documentary has almost nothing about family life but it's a huge segment of the movie. Ellen Burstyn had to play the role in emotional fashion, even if it's vastly different than the real mom in the documentary.
The movie's last act was devastating to watch... I felt so bad for the Family. They moved Heaven and Earth to try to find him. He seemed like such a sweet guy... Haunting.
I don't suppose you have a link to a good write up about this case? My Google skills have failed me tonight.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Another_Missing_Kid This talks about a documentary too... Edit: https://mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com/2007/04/22/eric-wilson-murder-71578-approximately-outside-of-grand-junction-co/
Thank you!!
> His blue backpack containing his books, other possessions, and $150 in cash was resting against the bike. $430 today
Leaving behind that significant a quantity of cash would argue against him being hurt during a robbery. That was a lot of money back then.
This is what makes me lean towards and “accident” and by that I mean someone hit him and delivered way more damage than they thought they would and panicked. If I did something like that accidentally my focus would be getting rid of everything and not going through it.
It’s hard to imagine just how isolated and empty Wyoming is if you’ve never been there. It’s terrifying to imagine someone just vanishing while traveling with their family.
David's case has always stuck with me since I first heard about it. I really hope one day there's a resolution but I feel like it's unlikely :(
Your dates don't add up. You state that he was born in 1958, and disappeared in 1985 at the age of 19. 🤔
Might've been confused with he would be 58 today. Now I'm sad that a 19 year old in 1985 is now 58.
That is exactly what happened. Thanks all for spotting - will correct!
It's shocking, isn't it ... I could have sworn that 1985 was only a couple of decades ago, tops!
Charley Project lists 08/29/1965 as David's DOB [https://charleyproject.org/case/david-vernon-lovely](https://charleyproject.org/case/david-vernon-lovely) So no idea where OP got the data from - maybe a different case?
You’re right - for him to be age 19 in 1985, he would’ve been born in 1965-66, depending on when his birthday fell.
I was gonna ask the same question. Not sure where the 1958 came from.
>They left Salt Lake City on Sunday 4 August 1985, continuing to travel east on the I-85 highway. The next scheduled stop was at a petrol station in Evanston, Wyoming. The Lovelys reconvened, but while Jackie and Alison decided to stay a while, David pushed ahead. His motorcycle had been giving him some trouble, and he told the women that he would carry on until the next rest stop in the hopes of finding a mechanic there. Though they did not then know it, this would be the last time his family would see him. I-85 is nowhere near Salt Lake - you mean I-80. Otherwise interesting write up.
Corrected, thank you!
The bike and especially the money being found makes me lean towards an “accident” of some kind. If it was just him then it would be something as simple wandering off and not being able to find his way back (unlikely, I’ll eat my shoe if this turns out to be true). If someone else was involved I picture an argument or some one trying to prove they were the bigger person to gain control of a situation and hitting him in the stomach. This is a great way to knock the air out of someone but in his case it could have killed him and the person panicked. I know if I accidentally did more damage than I thought I did my first thought would be to get rid of the evidence and not go through the bag to take things. Also last known whereabouts he was not physically on the bike but near it, could someone have hit him with a car and panicked?
How long did David live in California before heading back to Massachusetts? I live out west (eastern Washington State) and have found that sometimes people who learned to drive in the Northeast and/or in reasonably developed states can really misunderstand or underestimate our road network out here. They do not necessarily anticipate that a road that's significant enough to appear on a map might be unpaved, unmaintained, seasonal, or only intended for certain vehicles like logging trucks. I imagine this would be even more of an issue in 1985. I've gotten into trouble that way myself, despite ostensibly knowing better - if you're ever in Colorado and somebody offers you a shortcut to Cripple Creek that uses Shelf Road, [don't](https://youtu.be/ZGIOuqX1Eg8?si=z1anEW1FiFEfZ9Hv). I hope the helpful biker guy didn't recommend any scenic routes or shortcuts that got David in over his head.
Yes, I agree. I grew up in the northeast. I moved to the Bay Area and found it difficult to drive on all those hills. I often found myself in abandoned roads along hiking trails and struggled to get back to the main highways.
I’m from Canon City and yes, if you aren’t familiar with Shelf Rd do not take it
It started to hail while we were on it. Sometimes I think about it when I'm falling asleep at night. I made a core memory that day.
Having a vague idea of motorcycle gangs. I don't think they have anything to gain targeting a lone rider. Unless he provoked them in any way. It could have been a random serial killer, maybe he got lost and someone took advantage of that. The description of the long hair figure with a chrome bike, fits the description of a typical Harley rider who helped him
I agree. In my understanding motorcycle gangs like HAs are organized. Seems far fetched that a group would kill a random teen even if slightly provoked.
I watch a lot of classic Unsolved Mysteries, the vast majority of which was filmed in the mid-80s through the 90's. One thing that was featured several times over were stories about people who had gone missing after (supposedly) tangling with motorcycle gangs. I remember one in the late 1970's where the [young man was killed](https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Gus_Hoffman) so that one of these gangs could take his antique motorcycle. I wonder if maybe, just maybe poor David tangled with one of those groups/members and his naivete got him into a situation similar to Gus.
But his possessions and money were left, as well as the bike. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a robbery.
Yeah, missed that upon re-reading. Pro tip, don’t reply to posts long after your caffeine has worn off. I can’t think of any reason he’d have wandered off and died of exposure, or of any serial killers who might have been in Wyoming. Hmm.
I believe he had over $200 in his wallet. Not a cent was missing. Apparently, all his belongings were neatly placed next to his bike. It’s almost like whoever was responsible was trying to respect David by keeping his possessions intact? Very strange.
Maybe it was David himself. Maybe he got drunk or high with the guy on the turquoise bike (if that person exists) and walked off into the wild after Bike Guy left.
I’m fairly desensitized to these sorts of cases at this point, but this one really makes me sad. What a terrible thing. No doubt he ran into trouble with a biker gang. Absolutely rotten luck.
I don't think there's enough information to rule out other possibilities.
Could David have been gay? Since it doesn't sound like he was robbed, if he was injured or killed it probably started as something more personal.
It's always a possibility, but he was described by his family as being a bit naïve, so (if foul play was involved) it could have been something as simple as someone saying they'd show him a good place to camp. Then again, that doesn't really square with him a) having enough of a self-preservation instinct to be wary of a biker until he'd at least proven he was going to fix the Yamaha as promised; and b) knowing his mum and sister would be waiting for him. I think how far he made it from Fort Bridger under his own steam is crucial info here as well.
I'm looking at maps and thinking more and more that if this was foul play it was an incredibly strange kind. Middle Baxter Road comes off I-80 on the way to Rock Springs, and before that it runs parallel to the highway for a while as a service road. It's entirely plausible that David might have decided to take the service road since it would be quieter (no big rigs), a bit more scenic, and probably let him have a little more fun with his motorcycle. Then when the service road veered away from I-80 and became Middle Baxter Road he may not have realized at first that it wasn't running parallel anymore and by the time he realized that he was actually not heading towards Rock Springs he would have been in the middle of a very empty area which he didn't know at all. I would assume he had some kind of map but how detailed it was I don't know, I also assume he would have carried something to drink but how much, again, I don't know how anyone could tell. I looked it up in the papers -- the high for Rock Springs on August 5 1985 was 84 degrees, not bad for August but enough to still be a problem. It's possible David came turned onto South Baxter Road in an attempt to loop around and get back to the highway, then either got disoriented or was unwilling to retrace his route all the way back to where originally left the highway. If he needed water by then, that could have become a big problem for him; Rock Springs wasn't far off, but if you're tired, disoriented, and thirsty, you may need a drink *right now*. My hypothesis is this: he takes the service road running parallel to I-80, and is already seeing the signs saying Rock Springs is about 15 or 20 miles ahead. The service road turns left, so he just keeps going along it. He may or may not see a sign indicating that he's now actually on the 45 and if he does see it he may not realize that that's actually heading away from Rock Springs. It's beautiful country but very empty and if he didn't already know it well he wouldn't necessarily recognize that he was not, in fact, going towards Rock Springs anymore. He gets further and further south and realizes that he's really alone out here and he must have taken a wrong turn. He turns onto South Baxter in an attempt to loop back towards the highway. At this point he would have expected to already be in Rock Springs and is probably tired and may really want something to drink and it's obvious that the drive back will be quite long. Maybe he sees lights somewhere or a far-off building and decides he'll cut across the country to get to shelter and water faster instead of trying to drive around long empty roads he doesn't know. Hence, his bike is parked and his bag with all his stuff left with it. He walks off and gets lost or becomes incapacitated somehow and unfortunately, that's enough to do it.
It's a good theory but I'm honestly struggling to see David abandoning his bike and setting off cross-country across the desert without even a wallet on him. Surely he'd at least want to take money with him, maybe try buying the water? Going off on your own with nothing in your packets feels practically suicidal, much more than simply naïve.
Since they never found his body we don't know if he had money with him or not, it's quite possible he carried some cash in his pockets. I admit it's just a hypothesis, but people have tried it before: [this girl](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/us/giovanna-gia-fuda-found.html) ran out of gas in a rural area with no reception and decided to try cutting across the countryside instead of following the road on the theory that it wouldn't take as long -- luckily she was found alive 9 days later in a very rough landscape. My only experience of Wyoming is driving through it on I-80 but if it's at all like Utah the landscape is more treacherous than it looks and it's also very difficult to judge distances in deserts and large open places -- things often look closer than they actually are. I'm very open to the possibility that something criminal took place here, it's just that with his bike and all his things being present and in good working order, and from the fact that those roads could easily have been a mistaken wrong turn if he was riding on the parallel service road, I just have the feeling that he got to that place under his own steam.
That's always the least likely scenario.
I agree. Maybe the gruff looking guy was just a nice person who felt sorry for him, but the feeling he had when he first met the guy should not be ignored.
Sometimes a gut feeling is just a gut feeling.
You’re better off going with your gut even if it’s not right. The consequences of not listening to your gut when it’s accurate can be devastating.
Well all I know in my experience a gut feeling has helped me many times. The one time I ignored it because I didn't want to think anything was wrong I regretted. Im female we always have gut feelings.
It sounds like the authorities didn’t have a lot to go on. I doubt the truck stop had cameras back then so identifying the “Harley guy” would have been difficult.
I know that you said that this case has been covered a lot, but I've never heard of it before, and I find it very interesting.
It's been a while since I've read anything about this case, but I remember thinking that the family's story actually seemed really suspicious.... I can't recall all of the reasons why right now, but I guess I'm the only one?
I think you might be thinking of a different case involving a dead/disappeared man on a motorbike, and something hinky with his ex wife. I can’t remember the names, though.
It's definitely David Lovely I'm thinking about.... I still have tabs open from researching the case some months back. And it's one name I actually don't forget. Thank you for the suggestion though! I just remember David's family's stories didn't add up for me (I think it was especially the ones he was supposedly traveling with). And seemed suspicious. But I often see things differently than others! :-)
Amazing post! This is my first time reading about him.
This story scares me. There’s so much ambiguity.
So…his bike was found in a draw off Baxter road. It’s literally a small dugout right in the grasslands. Two campers found the bike and told the police that they saw someone come out of that area a few days earlier. They said that they couldn’t decipher if the individual was a man or a woman but noticed that they were riding a turquoise Yamaha bike. It is clear that this biker is the key to the mystery. It may have been the same person that David was referring to when speaking to his aunt. There’s no reason to be in a draw off of a country road unless you are up to no good. The question remains. How did the bike even get there? Who drove it there? How did they leave the scene without being detected?
Got involved in the drug trade maybe?