Missing Since: 1984-07-29 Location: Pensacola, Florida
Gilsdorf was last seen in Pensacola, Florida on July 29, 1984. He told his parents he’d gotten a phone call from an offshore oil company offering him a job, a man from Houston, Texas had sent him a prepaid bus ticket, and someone was going to meet him in New Orleans, Louisiana to take him to the job site. He was glad to get the job, as he’d gone through a divorce and was trying to get back on his feet. Gilsdorf boarded a Trailways bus at the downtown bus station, en route to Louisiana, but it’s unclear whether he ever arrived there. He has never been heard from again. After three months passed without any word from him, Gilsdorf’s mother sent a registered letter to the Houston man who had paid for her son’s bus ticket. The letter was returned undeliverable, and his mother reported him missing on January 10, 1985, almost six months after he’d left Pensacola. Foul play is suspected in Gilsdorf’s disappearance; his mother believed he was purposely lured to the bus station to be murdered. Nevertheless, when she died in 1998, he was listed in her obituary as having survivor. Gilsdorf has nine siblings. His case remains unsolved. Investigating Agency Escambia County Sheriff’s Office 850-436-9199 Source Information NamUs Florida Department of Law Enforcement The Pensacola News Journal Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated March 18, 2018; picture added, distinguishing characteristics and details of disappearance updated.