Missing
John Francis Lenihan
Lenihan, approximately 1994
Date and time person was reported missing : 09/10/1994
Missing location (approx) :
Georgetown, Colorado
Missing classification : Lost/Injured Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 02/06/1921 (100)
Age at the time of disappearance: 73 years old
Height / Weight : 5'9, 160 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : Possibly pale yellow shorts and a short-sleeved turquoise shirt.
Medical conditions : Lenihan has arthritis in his hip. He had recovered from cancer not long before his disappearance.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Gray hair. Lenihan wears prescription eyeglasses.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Lenihan left his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in September 1994 to go on vacation in Colorado. His wife of seventeen years chose not to accompany him, but he took a tape recorder and during his trip he described the details of his vacation and sent the tapes home for her to enjoy.
He was last seen on September 10. That same day, his rented white Buick Century was found abandoned at the Cloudland picnic area, four miles east of Colorado Highway 103.
Authorities found his clothes, tape recorder and camera in the car. When the film in the camera was developed, the last camera showed Lenihan dressed in shorts and a t-shirt at a site approximately half a mile from the picnic ground. An extensive search of the area turned up no sign of him.
Foul play isn't suspected in Lenihan's case; authorities believe he simply became lost or injured in the mountains. He worked as a piano and organ salesman and also as a civilian employee with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department; he retired in 1986. His body has never been found.
Other information and links : ncy
Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office
303-569-3232
September 2021 updates and sources
Colorado Bureau of Investigation
The Doe Network
The Miami Herald
October 12, 2004. August 16, 2010; .
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
