William David Shannon -- Missing Since September 1995 in Washington state

Paraphrased details from government source**: 

Left home in Salem, Oregon for a camping/hiking trip and never returned. Did not take medications for mental and medical problems. Vehicle found at the National Forest trailhead to Lake Angeline. An extensive search operation was unproductive. The vehicle was left at the trailhead and impounded by the US Forest Service.

Update: The original time of writing was April 3rd, 2021. The MP is still missing as of March 25th, 2025.

Not the actual vehicle. AI was prompted to generate a picture of the vehicle's likeness near a hiking trail. Shows a 1991 Pontiac 2x2 that's blue with Oregon plates.

Missing Person: William David Shannon
Last-contact date: September 4th, 1995 (this was Labor Day that year, a Monday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Skykomish, Washington
Link to government source: NamUs MP 

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 47 years old
Birthdate: William David Shannon was born between September 5th, 1947, and September 4th, 1948, based on his reported age at the last date of reported contact.

Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Scar: None known

Height/weight: 6'4" and 180 pounds
BMI*: William David Shannon was in the normal range for BMI.

No photo found: If a photo can't be found, rely on BMI, height, weight, ethnicity, and other physical features to describe or picture the person. 

Tattoos: William David Shannon did not have any tattoos associated with his profiles.

William David Shannon was last heard from on September 4th, 1995, when he was 47 years of age. That was a Monday, and as the first Monday in September, it was also Labor Day in 1995. William David Shannon has now been missing for about 26 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.

When it came to expanding details, this was a difficult case. I did not find a newspaper article that covered the missing person's disappearance. 

Sometimes, with a first name like William, selecting the proper keywords to search can be difficult. There's Will, Willy, Willie, Bill, Billy, Billie and then all the combinations that come with whether or not to use the middle name (ie. which could be "Dave" or "David"), just the middle initial, or to use first and last name alone. There are dozens of way this person might be named in media, if not using a strict first and last name combination.

William David Shannon: Limited Media Coverage

In the end, I felt like there were no newspaper articles on this disappearance in the Newspaper.com database. That may change in the future, so take a moment to double-check if you are reading this well after the publication date.

I did note that the individual did not have a photo included with his profile. When I encounter that situation, I usually attribute it to a lack of public interest in the case. Perhaps the hard-to-find newspaper coverage or web news source isn't too surprising.

When a missing person doesn't have a photo, researchers can try to find one at Ancestry.com or at Newspapers.com. I am convinced that William David Shannon has profile information at Ancestry, as his NamUs profile says he was from Salem, Oregon.

I found someone who was in the right birthdate range who had an exact name match at that website for Salem, Oregon. There might have been a Yearbook photo of him at the site, but I couldn't authenticate it as the missing person for sure. Furthermore, a photo of him in his 20s isn't great to use when he disappeared at the age of 47. 

This William David Shannon might be the same one as the missing person: his date of death is listed as September 23rd, 1995, which would be 19 days after the disappearance. It just might be that September 23rd was when someone filed a missing person report. Conversely, they could be different people, but there is a lot of overlap between the NamUs William David Shannon and the one at Ancestry.

Hiking Without Medication - Seems Odd

What stands out with this case is that this individual went hiking and/or camping without medications that he presumptively needed. That certainly doesn't bode well for his health and well-being.

The Lake Angeline area that is mentioned in the NamUs description appears to be a puny lake near Darrington, Washington. These were the coordinates I noted off of Google Maps for what looks like little more than a pond: 48.24182048327208, -121.54171666844462.

I wondered if his vehicle might have been parked on a road labelled as NF-2420, but I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

I have looked at a lot of cases involving missing hikers in the past. When the vehicle is found near the trailhead, then they should be presumed to be lost on the trail. Hikers who are rescued under these circumstances are usually rescued only if found within a week. That would suggest that this missing person is dead, something supported by his 30-year absence as of 2025.

Clothing and Possessions Associated with William David Shannon

Item	Description
Backpack	Blue Jansport backpack
T-shirt	Plain T-shirt (color not specified)
Pants	Long pants (color and material not specified)
Cap	Baseball or golf-type cap (color not specified)
Glasses	Light-colored wire-frame glasses

Note: These items were associated with William David Shannon at the time of his disappearance on September 4th, 1995. They may be linked to a John Doe or could become associated with one in the future as part of ongoing identification efforts.

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Tags that I've associated with this blog post are below. It's interesting to see what can connect unrelated cases. Click one of the tags to go to an article that is related to this one in some way, shape, or form.

Author: Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

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*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Might not be the exact meaning that NamUs or Canada's Missing conveys. I improve upon their descriptions with my research.

Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing person's case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

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