The Van That May Have Taken Michael Dunahee: Could It Be a 1981 Chevrolet P30? Artificial Intelligence Weighs In!

Missing person: Michael Wayne Dunahee

Last-contact date: March 24th, 1991 at about 1230pm; reports surfaced in 2022 of a woman named Norma seeing him twice later that day. It's hard to know what to treat as accurate in situations like these, but the 1230pm time is not disputed.

Updated theory as of March 2025: New Blog Post

Last seen: Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island

It is not disputed that he was at the Blanshard Elementary School playground. The school is no longer there but was at 950 Kings Road and the now-gone playground is on the southwest side of the lot. I would say these Google Maps coordinates are close to the abduction point: 48.437708, -123.360528. Street views on Google Maps only go back to 2009.

The second sighting is taken much more lightly. But it would place him in the custody of a woman 18-25 at a back alley near Wark Street, a little later in the day. Wark Street is a very short road in Victoria extending just two blocks from north to south (Google Maps: Wark Street's northern tip). Wark Street forms a T-intersection at the school on Kings Road.

Link to Government Source: Canada's Missing

Ethnicity/Race: White

Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 4 years old
Hair: Blonde, short
Eye color: Blue
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 3'0" and 51 pounds
Clothing: White Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt, colorful rugby pants, blue canvas sneakers, blue cloth jacket with red lining and red cuffs.

Not the actual clothes.Grok's response to my request for an image of the clothing as described above.

Michael Dunahee: One of Canada's Best Known Missing Person's Cases

Few missing person cases in Canada's history have generated as much lasting interest as the case of Michael Dunahee. If you, the reader, are among the contingent of people who will undoubtedly look back at the case in March, when the anniversary comes, remember to take a moment to look at the composite sketches and the drawing of the van that Michael was thought to have been lured into. 

A young child (ten years old) said she saw Michael go into a vehicle. This is a witness whose insight into what happened that day can be debated. Children are frivolous and they never make great witnesses. However, there were multiple witnesses who claimed that they saw the brown van, according to a 2022 news article (Hana Nae Nassar/March 8th, 2022/CityNews).

In fact, the Wikipedia page for Michael's disappearance says that there were no witnesses. I think that shows that some discount the child-witness.

In mentioning it, I am not saying it should be taken as fact, but, for me, I think that the child-witness should still be mentioned as food for thought and awareness. So many years have passed since the disappearance that there can't be any harm in keeping an open mind.

Thu, Mar 24, 2011 – 1 · Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com

Child's Drawing of the Suspect Vehicle

The picture of the van that the young girl drew does not look like that common of a vehicle model. The drawing of the van looks like a small bus or a vehicle that would be used for services like airport transfers.

By my research (from 2021), the vehicle would resemble the Chevrolets in the "P30" and/or "step van" series. These vehicles were on the road in 1991 and seemed to go back several decades with new models hitting the market perhaps annually.

The following is an enlargement of the picture that the girl drew.

 

The full-length door on the side is the biggest clue as to the model in my opinion. While I couldn't find a great non-copyrighted photo, I recommend that the reader go to Google Images and search for "Chevrolet P30 step-van" and then look at the models from 1991 and prior. My top guess for the year, make, and model would be a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van.

Grok 'Thinks' It IS a 1981 Chevy Step Van

In 2025, I ran the picture through Grok, which is X's artificial intelligence. When I asked what vehicle it was, Grok first stated that it was a 1991 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan. However, I think I had inadvertently limited it to 1991 when I said it was a 1991 drawing.

I decided to ask directly if the vehicle was a Chevrolet Step Van and got the following answer: 

"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely of a Chevrolet Step Van, possibly from the mid-20th century, given its boxy shape, three-side-window configuration, and wood-like appearance, which may reflect artistic shading or custom features. While other vehicles like minivans or station wagons were considered, the utilitarian design and forward-control layout align most closely with a step van. This identification reflects the era's use of step vans for delivery and the possibility of custom modifications, fitting the drawing's 1991 creation date as a nostalgic or artistic representation."

For the record, my opinion that it was a Chevy Step Van predated my entry into Grok by four years as the original publication date is February 13th, 2021 for this blog post. I also asked if it was a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van, which has been my top guess for the last four years, and Grok answered in the affirmative.

"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely of a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van, possibly with custom features like additional windows, given its boxy shape, three-side-window configuration, and wood-like appearance, which may reflect artistic shading or modifications. While other vehicles like minivans or station wagons were considered, the utilitarian design and forward-control layout align most closely with a step van. This identification reflects the era's use of step vans for delivery and the possibility of custom modifications, fitting the drawing's 1991 creation date as a nostalgic or artistic representation."

As a control, I asked if the drawing was of a Volkswagen Beetle, an airplane, or a school bus. Grok answered in the negative, an indicator that the software behind the AI is not just spitting out answers in a biased way. Instead, Grok suggested that it was a step van or minivan. 

"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely not a Volkswagen Beetle, an airplane, or a school bus. It seems to depict a van or small truck, possibly a step van or minivan, with a boxy shape, two windows, and a wood-like appearance, which doesn't align with the typical features of the given options. An unexpected detail is that the drawing might represent a customized vehicle, not fitting standard categories, which wasn't among the choices but fits the description better."

I'm not sure what the wood-like appearance meant, except that the color is brown. AI is always just food for thought. File it under "take it or leave it" but I think the chance that the vehicle is of a Chevy Step Van should be noted by anyone interested in this case.

Real-life Footage or Photos of Chevy Step Vans

As far as usable photos go (ie. the photographer allows his/her photo to be used), I found the following. Firstly, I embedded a video below of a 1982 model from Youtube.

The picture below is of a 1997 Chevrolet P30. This is a model that came into the market several years after Dunahee's 1991 disappearance. It was hard to find a user-friendly picture of the models that I wanted to use, which is why I used the 1997 model.

But the earlier models had that long door that you see in the child's drawing. I think it's that feature that is most credible in the drawing, along with the color of the vehicle. The disappearance happened in the early afternoon, and color is easier for the human eye to detect at midday.

Furthermore, the front windows are viewable when taking a side-longed view of the vehicle. This is the kind of vehicle that you might expect to be camperized, used as a food truck, or used for roadside lodging. To me, it suggests that the person who abducted Dunahee was transient or lodged in campgrounds RV parks.

Wikipedia photo by Mr. choppers.

There was an alleged Dunahee sighting in New Jersey in the weeks after Michael disappeared. A shopper at a convenience store named Harry Krusch claimed he saw Michael on April 4th, 1991 in a place called Maple Shade, New Jersey.

An article with the composite sketch of the man who was allegedly in Michael's company is below. I will say that I never really thought much of this alleged sighting of Michael. However, it's also important to remain open-minded. Note, that the composite sketch involved with this alleged sighting is of a black man while the former sketch was of a white person.

Tue, Apr 16, 1991 – Page 21 · Courier-Post (Camden, New Jersey) · Newspapers.com

Author: Shane Lambert (Facebook profile)

Twitter: @UncoolNegated (Twitter)

Pinterest: Missing Person Board
Original Time of Writing: February 13th, 2021

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL