Missing
Russ Rolnick
Rolnick, approximately 1984
Date and time person was reported missing : 02/24/1984
Missing location (approx) :
Coconut Grove, Florida
Missing classification : Lost/Injured Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 02/12/1958 (63)
Age at the time of disappearance: 26 years old
Height / Weight : 5'11, 175 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Blond hair, blue eyes. Rolnick had a mustache at the time of his disappearance.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Rolnick was last seen in Coconut Grove, Florida on February 24, 1984. He and a friend, Alan J. Hirsch, were on their 16-foot orange and white ski boat and, after having a short dinner at Monty Trainer's restaurant, they left to sail home.
Witnesses at the restaurant said the men appeared to be high on drugs; the restaurant manAge at the time of disappearance: r thought they were under the influence and refused to serve them alcohol. They were were also having trouble with their boat's engine, and the boat's lights weren't working.
A few minutes after Rolnick and Hirsch left the restaurant, their boat ran out of gas. They paddled to a gas station on the causeway, where Rolnick called his ex-girlfriend at 5:55 p.m. He told his girlfriend he had one more errand to do and wanted to be home by dark, and that he would call her between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m.
Neither of the men arrived home and they have never been heard from again. Rolnick's black 1979 Datsun 280Z was found later near the Miamarina, a waterfront restaurant near the Miami Grand Prix. An extensive search covering 11,000 square miles over three states, the south Atlantic and the Caribbean turned up no sign of either Rolnick and Hirsch, or the boat. They are presumed lost at sea.
According to his mother, Rolnick had used drugs, including marijuana, during high school, and he began using drugs again shortly before his disappearance, including cocaine. He was stressed because his stepfather had been murdered three and a half months before he went missing. Hirsch, a University of Miami graduate, habitually used Quaaludes, a prescription sedative.
Rolnick enjoys water-skiing, boating and fishing; he's an excellent swimmer and he's owned a boat since he was ten years old. Photos of Hirsch are unavailable. His DOB : is October 15, 1957, making him 26 years old at the time of his disappearance. He's Caucasian, 5'9 and 140 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Other information and links : ncy
North Miami Police Department
305-471-8477
305-899-2457
305-899-2415
September 2021 updates and sources
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Chicago Tribune
The Miami Herald
The Tampa Tribune
October 12, 2004. May 14, 2018; Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: and Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
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