Katharina Buczek
In 1994, Joel Mark Wells, who went by Mark, was a 21-year-old father of two from Kentucky. Yet, following a fight with friends on the evening of a snowstorm, he vanished without a trace.
It all began on January 15, 1994, when Hazard, Kentucky, was hit with freezing temperatures and tons of snow. That same night, Mark was hanging out with his friends near the Black Gold Shopping Center.
But, things took a turn when he reportedly got into an argument with his friends and exited their car.
“They said they got into an argument because Mark was mad and upset. They said Mark got out of the car, and that was the last time they saw him,” remembered Mark’s sister, Pam Brewer.
He proceeded to walk to a nearby Burger King restaurant, which had closed early because of the storm.
Mark started banging on the Burger King’s doors, begging the workers inside to let him in. The fast-food joint’s employees had just locked up, and when they saw Mark outside, they called the police for assistance.
However, by the time the police arrived on the scene, Mark was already gone.
He was last seen by a Burger King employee as he ran towards the Kentucky 15 bypass. Later that same evening, a witness at a nearby Walmart called the police again. The witness claimed to have seen Mark running around the parking lot, frantically asking for help and trying to get into cars.
“He was just really erratic. The way he was running around, confused, scared to death, he was trying to get into vehicles or [away] from something chasing him,” detailed Hazard Police Chief Minor Allen.
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