Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 01/12/1987
- Missing From:
- Missing From El Dorado County, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 04/08/1962 (62)
- Age:
- Age 24 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’9, 150 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. The tip of Hursell’s right index finger has been crushed. His nickname is Dave.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In January 1987, Hursell disappeared from El Dorado County, California. Robert Charles Comer became the main suspect. Years later, in 1999, while on death row for a different murder in Arizona, Comer confessed to killing Hursell.
Comer said he kidnapped Hursell at gunpoint, handcuffed and tied him up, then forced him to walk away before shooting him in Georgetown, California. He was caught shortly after Hursell’s disappearance, driving Hursell’s truck.
Even in the 1980s, Comer tried to blackmail Hursell’s mother, demanding money or appliances in exchange for information. She refused. Despite his confession and a drawn map of the burial site, searches in 2001 didn’t find Hursell’s body. Police believe Comer’s confession, though, and he later apologized to Hursell’s mother before being executed in 2007.
Despite the confession, Hursell’s body was never found, and his case remains unsolved.
- Agency:
- El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department 530-621-6600
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 01/12/1987