Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 07/01/1998
- Missing From:
- Missing From Prineville, Oregon
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 12/31/1909 (115)
- Age:
- Age 88 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’8, 170 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Gray hair, blue eyes. Cierley wears a full set of dentures.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In July 1998, John Cierley disappeared after his nephew, John Henry Shipman, helped him move. Shipman claimed Cierley was traveling in a motor home, but he was never seen again.
Then, in May 2001, Shipman’s mother, Frances Brewster, was reported missing. She’d last been seen in October 1999, living with Shipman. Shipman said she was traveling with Cierley (whose deceased wife was Brewster’s sister).
Police found Shipman was cashing both Cierley’s and Brewster’s Social Security checks after they vanished. When police tried to arrest him for unrelated domestic violence charges in September 2001, he committed suicide. He was facing federal charges for the check fraud.
While Shipman never confessed, police believe he killed both his mother and his uncle and buried them somewhere in central Oregon. Their bodies have never been found, and police suspect murder.
- Agency:
- Bend Police Department 541-388-5550
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 07/01/1998