Oliver Wendell Munson, a bachelor was last seen in the 600 block of Orpington Road in Catonsville. At 7:50 a.m., a neighbor saw Munson leaving his home alone apparently heading to work. He never arrived at his job as an industrial arts middle school teacher in Howard County.

He had an occasional girlfriend, but on weekends he often left town to visit his mother and two brothers on the Eastern Shore. His family reported him missing the next day, February 14th, after checking his home.

On February 16th, the 1980 Ford Pinto belonging to Munson was found parked on Braeside Road in Catonsville, about two blocks from his home. The car was parked in the opposite direction from what he had taken to work. The right front tire was flat. Police checked the tire and determined it did not have a leak. In his car were the touring cap he usually wore, his lunch bag, and a school notebook on the front seat.

Munson's hobby was working on old cars. Investigators believe that he may have been murdered in retaliation for testifying against an auto theft ring. Munson had unknowingly bought a blue 1973 Datsun 240Z from a ring member the year before he disappeared. This car had been stolen on the morning of Munson's disappearance.

On February 27th, another vehicle that had been stolen was recovered at the edge of Leakin Park in West Baltimore. The owner of the vehicle contacted police after it was returned upon finding two business receipts with Munson's name, traces of unidentified blood, and a small caliber shell casing.

Wendell Munson's body has never been found. He may have been dumped or buried somewhere, perhaps in Leakin Park, near where the stolen car was later found. On February 28th, police searched Leakin Park without success.

On May 28, 1985, Munson was legally declared dead, the victim of "presumptive homicide."