12 Celebrities Who Went Missing
“Look Tony, what are the odds of a Prime Minister being drowned or taken by a shark?” may be one of the most karma-depleting things ever said.
Tammy Lynn Leppert
Growing up, Leppert was a beauty pageant stand-out who later transitioned from a modeling career to an acting career, which was cut short when she disappeared in 1983 at the age of 18. She had recently appeared in Scarface and Spring Break when a friend reported that she came back from a Hollywood party “a different person.” She disappeared after months of mental and emotional decline, although one detective claimed he’d gotten calls from two different women claiming that Leppert had secretly pursued a career as a nurse.
Lord Lucan
A dipshit Earl named Richard John Bingham, aka the 7th Earl of Lucan, was a drunk, gambling degenerate who was forced to move out of his home. Pissed about this, he murdered his nanny and lured his wife into a dark room with the intention of bludgeoning her to death. He missed, and his wife escaped and ran for help. Lord Lucan scurried away from London to Sussex, and from there likely used his wealth and connections to escape entirely.
Jean Spangler
The Seattle-born actress and dancer was just starting to get some Hollywood roles when she disappeared in 1946 at the age of 26. Somewhere between meeting her ex-husband to discuss child support and going to an overnight shoot, she disappeared, leaving only a broken purse with a note addressed to a “Kirk” and referencing a “Dr. Scott.”
Zoe McLellan
The Designated Survivor and NCIS actress appears to have absconded with her young son during a custody battle with her ex-husband. She’s been missing since 2019.
Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
The author of the children’s novella The Little Prince was also a journalist and aviator. He was forced by French general Charles de Gaulle to remain in active service, which led him to depression and alcoholism. He never returned from a recon mission over Southern France in 1944, leading to speculation that he’d escaped (an idea that grew more unlikely when the wreckage of his plane was found in 2000).
Joe Pichler
The child actor had appeared in Varsity Blues and a couple of Beethovens before his parents made him return to Washington to complete high school. His car and an apparent suicide note were found, but there was no trace of his body.
Daniel Lind Lagerlöf
The Swedish director, screenwriter and producer disappeared while scouting a location in 2011. He was exploring a nature preserve alone, and while no trace has been found, it’s thought that he fell from a cliff and was pulled out to sea.
Jim Sullivan
He was an up-and-coming singer-songwriter whose career had stalled in L.A., and he decided to start over in Nashville. While driving there, he had a weird couple of days — he was pulled over by police, passed a field sobriety test, checked into a hotel, but bought a bottle of vodka and hit the road later that night — before disappearing altogether. His car was found, full of his personal belongings and unsold records. Leading theories include cop revenge and aliens (appropriately, he released an album titled UFO in 1969.
Ambrose Bierce
The American writer and editor traveled to Mexico to embed himself with a revolutionary in 1913 at the age of 71. He wrote about several battles before sending what would be his final missive: “I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination.”
Dy
Canadian rapper Forrest Schab, aka “Dy,” took a trip to Mexico shortly after his record contract had been terminated in 2010, and was never heard from again.
Christina McKechnie
A couple of decades after achieving Woodstock-era fame as the musician “Licorice” in the Incredible String Band, she vanished while hitchhiking across Arizona in 1987. Confusingly, her sister claimed as late as 1990 that she was quietly recovering from back surgery in California.
Prime Minister Harold Holt
Australia’s Prime Minister disappeared while swimming in the ocean in 1967. He was most likely drowned or taken out by a shark, right? Wrong, idiot! He even once told a friend, “Look Tony, what are the odds of a Prime Minister being drowned or taken by a shark?” One popular explanation is that he was a Chinese spy all along, and escaped into a Chinese submarine.