Case Details

Photo URLs:

This person was missing Missing Since 06/02/1999

Missing Since:

Missing Since 06/02/1999

Missing From:

Missing From Idaho Falls, Idaho

Classification:

Classification Endangered Missing

Gender:

Male

Race:

Race White

Date of Birth:

Date of Birth 04/22/1951 (73)

Age:

Age 48 years old

Height and Weight:

Height and Weight 5’9, 160 pounds

Clothing/Jewelry Description:

Clothing/Jewelry Description A black leather jacket, Levi’s 501 jeans, a black belt, a distinctive brass belt buckle with a tiny black spider on it, a keychain with a brass rattlesnake on it, and a watch with a black band and a rotating spiderweb design on its face. A photo of the watch is posted with this case summary.

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Vest had a trimmed beard and mustache at the time of his 1999 disappearance. He has a three-inch scar on his forehead, a scar on his head and an appendectomy scar on his abdomen. He has previously fractured his clavicle and his right ankle. Vest’s nickname is Dar.

Details of Disappearance:

On June 2, 1999, a man named Vest disappeared in Idaho Falls, Idaho. He’d been out with friends, playing trivia and having a drink. He was walking home in the rain when he vanished.

Vest was a fascinating guy: a self-taught expert on poisons (spiders, snakes, plants!), who even helped name a spider with his sister. He ran his own research company, worked at a movie theater, and even consulted with the FBI and CIA. He was also on the Discovery Channel! He’d invented a hobo spider trap and was about to make a lot of money selling it.

His family finds his disappearance very strange. He never left without telling anyone. They suspect foul play, especially since a man who robbed and assaulted Vest a few years earlier was released from prison around the same time. Although this man was in a halfway house when Vest disappeared, the family believes he may have sought revenge.

Police investigated, looking into several possibilities: Vest falling into the Snake River (though his family says he didn’t usually walk near it and wasn’t a heavy drinker), a man seen with him at the bar, or even that he ran off to Mexico (but there’s no evidence of this). The river wasn’t fully searched, and there was even a reported sighting of a body in the river the next morning, but nothing was ever found.

Ultimately, the case remains unsolved. Vest was declared legally dead in 2004. His family and friends still want answers.

Agency:

Idaho Falls Police Department 208-529-1200

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