He Disappeared After Buying A Car He Didn’t Know Was Stolen
In 1984, Oliver Munson was an industrial arts teacher in Catonsville, Maryland. The 39-year-old had graduated from the University of Maryland at East Shore, was liked by his students at Ellicott City Middle School, and enjoyed working on old cars in his free time.
So, the year prior, Oliver purchased a used car, a blue Datsun 240Z, in January 1983. He had no clue that the seller, a man named Dennis Watson, had led a car theft ring.
Dennis reportedly owned a garage and used the space as a cover for the ring. He’d dismantle stolen cars and sell the parts or resell the vehicles with falsified papers.
Investigators had caught onto the illicit activity, too, and raided the chop shop on March 16, 1983. During their search, they discovered stolen car ID tags, illegal titles, and cars that were partially dismantled. Additionally, they found the name “Oliver Munson” in recovered records.
Oliver was ultimately asked to testify against Dennis in court, and he agreed. Yet, three days before the trial was set to begin, the teacher went missing on February 13, 1984.
That morning, a neighbor watched as Oliver left his Orpington Road home at 7:50 a.m. as usual, likely headed to his job in Howard County, Maryland. However, he didn’t arrive at work and has never been seen or heard from again.
“Oliver would rarely miss school, and on that particular Monday, when he didn’t arrive, some of the staff and the kids started to worry that this was not a usual practice for Oliver and that maybe something was wrong with him,” recalled his coworker Patrick Cisna.
Oliver’s family reported him missing the next day, February 14. Two days later, his car, a 1980 Ford Pinto, was discovered parked on Braeside Road in the opposite direction of his route to work.
The car’s right front tire was flat, and inside the vehicle, the police found Oliver’s touring cap, lunch bag, and a school notebook.
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Another two weeks passed by, and a blue 1973 Datsun 240Z was located in West Baltimore, Maryland, at the edge of Leakin Park on February 27.
The car had been reported stolen by its owner, Hilton Solomon, the same morning that Oliver went missing. There were traces of human blood, a small-caliber shell casing, and two video store receipts with Oliver’s name on them inside.
“Hilton Solomon took his car home after it was released by Baltimore City and decided to clean the car,” detailed Baltimore Police Department Detective Philip Goodwin.
“While he was cleaning, he found several receipts from a video store. On these receipts was the name Oliver Munson. When we went down to look at the car, we looked underneath the seat, and right by the track of the right-hand front seat, I found a spent cartridge case.”
Investigators determined the blood was O-positive. Nonetheless, DNA testing wasn’t available at the time, and Oliver’s blood type was unknown.
It’s believed that he might’ve been targeted and murdered in retaliation for agreeing to testify against the car theft ring.
The ring’s leader, Dennis Watson, ultimately received a sentence of 10 years behind bars after pleading guilty to auto theft, and he was paroled in 1989.
Over a decade prior, Dennis was also implicated in an armed robbery case. Yet, a man who was supposed to testify against him was killed. Dennis was reportedly charged with first-degree murder, but one of the witnesses in the case died, so he was never brought to trial.
It’s unclear where Dennis is today, and Oliver’s case has remained unsolved for nearly 41 years. His body was never recovered.
On May 28, 1985, he was declared legally dead by a judge who stated he was the victim of a “presumptive homicide,” but exactly what happened is a mystery.
Oliver was five foot ten, weighed 160 pounds, and had black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information regarding his case is urged to contact the Baltimore County Police Department at (410) 887-3943.
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