Missing
Sterling Thomas Porter
Porter, approximately 1997
Date and time person was reported missing : 05/25/1997
Missing location (approx) :
Greensboro, North Carolina
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
Black
Age at the time of disappearance: 44 years old
Height / Weight : 5'7, 195 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A blue sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves and blue jean shorts.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Porter wears eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Porter last seen at 5:00 p.m. on May 25, 1997 as he was entering his residence on Wafco Drive in Greensboro, North Carolina. He has never been heard from again. He was reported missing by his fiancee.
Prior to his disappearance, Porter's 9-millimeter pistol was used in a drug-related shootout in Tortola, North Carolina. One of the other guns used in the shooting belonged to Elton Turnbull, an admitted drug dealer and gun smuggler.
When questioned about this by an Age at the time of disappearance: nt from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Porter admitted he knew Turnbull, but denied being involved in any criminal activity. He claimed it may have stolen when his Jeep was burglarized in February 1996; he had never reported the burglary to the police. The ATF Age at the time of disappearance: nt did not believe Porter's story about the gun.
Porter disappeared seven weeks after being interviewed by the ATF. He was allegedly planning to meet Turnbull on the day of his disappearance.
Curiously, Sonjah Kingston, who disappeared from Greensboro in 2002 and was never found, also knew Turnbull. He was arrested on drug charges in 2002 and cooperated with authorities, providing evidence against other drug dealers in exchange for a lighter sentence. He has never been charged in connection with Porter or Kingston's cases.
Porter's disappearance remains unsolved. He is believed to have been murdered.
Other information and links : ncy
Greensboro Police Department
336-574-4056
September 2021 updates and sources
Greensboro Police Department
The Greensboro News & Record
The Rhino Times
October 12, 2004. November 1, 2006; Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : updated.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
