Case Details

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This person was missing Missing Since 07/25/1995

Missing Since:

Missing Since 07/25/1995

Missing From:

Missing From Summerland Key, Florida

Classification:

Classification Endangered Missing

Gender:

Male

Race:

Race White

Date of Birth:

Date of Birth 09/28/1953 (71)

Age:

Age 41 years old

Height and Weight:

Height and Weight 5’10, 175 pounds

Clothing/Jewelry Description:

Clothing/Jewelry Description A tan shirt, tan shorts and possibly work boots.

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Thomas’s nickname is Tom. He may have a mustache and/or a full beard. He has an appendectomy scar on his abdomen and he wears contact lenses.

Details of Disappearance:

Thomas Stump vanished from Summerland Key, Florida, on July 25, 1995, his youngest daughter’s birthday. He was getting ready for a family vacation when he disappeared.

That afternoon, his daughter Bonnie told his mother, Rose, that she thought Thomas had killed himself. Thomas’s wife, Bernie, told Rose she’d asked for a divorce (though she later denied this). Bernie then got new keys to their rental car, claiming Thomas had drowned.

Before he disappeared, Thomas suspected Bernie was having an affair with a local radio DJ, Bill Becker. Weeks later, Becker moved into the Stump family home. Bernie and Becker both passed lie detector tests, but Thomas was declared legally dead in 2000, and Bernie later married Becker (her third husband).

The story is confusing: Bonnie said Thomas committed suicide, but Sally said he drove away in a car (though no family car was missing). Bernie said Thomas hid guns in the woods. Thomas’s mother believes he was murdered, describing him as a loving father and hard worker who wouldn’t abandon his family.

There’s a possible connection to another unsolved disappearance in the Florida Keys, that of Diana Harris in 1981. Police investigated both cases, but haven’t proven a link. The mystery of Thomas Stump’s disappearance remains unsolved.

Agency:

Monroe County Sheriff’s Office 305-296-2424

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