Darrel Wayne Kempf

• Missing Since 01/28/2007
• Missing From Pacific County, Washington
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Date of Birth 03/13/1958 (66)
• Age 48 years old
• Height and Weight 6'0, 250 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Gray hair, blue eyes. Kempf has a tattoo on his left arm. He had a mustache at the time of his disappearance. He was born in Bolivia, carries a Bolivian passport, and speaks Spanish in addition to English.

Details of Disappearance

Kempf was last seen at 8:45 p.m. on January 28, 2007. He left North Cove, Washington en route to his home in Graham, Washington, driving his blue Plymouth Voyager van. He never arrived home. He was reported missing the next day.

On the afternoon of January 29, the same day he was reported missing, Kempf's van was located at a remote beach on State Route 105 just north of the Shoalwater Indian Reservation in North Cove. The vehicle had run off the road, flipped over and landed on its roof.

There was no indication of Kempf's whereabouts at the scene, and no sign that anyone had been injured in the accident, but a belt was found tied to the van's steering wheel. Dogs traced a short scent trail on the road above, but lost it quickly.

Kempf ran a used-car business, Triad Marketing, at the time of his disappearance. A few days after he went missing, his family received a letter. It had supposedly been mailed by a friend Kempf had met in the Army, who had agreed to mail it if Kempf ever disappeared.

The letter explained Kempf's that business had run into financial trouble and he had borrowed money from loan sharks, he could not pay them, and he was afraid. The writer said if his family was reading the letter, Kempf was probably deceased.

Kempf had borrowed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the finance companies for his business prior to going missing, and he may have owed as much as $3 million altogether. After he vanished, many of the cars in his lot disappeared, and he came under investigation for possible fraud.

In May 2007, the state Department of Licensing announced they had proof that Kempf had intentionally defrauded people dozens of times. His alleged scheme involved accepting a car for a consignment sale, using the title to get a loan from a finance company, then selling the car to a third party and keeping the money.

There is speculation that Kempf is alive and well and simply fled the area to escape his financial troubles. He was born in Bolivia of missionary parents and grew up in that country. He may be in Bolivia or somewhere else in South America. His disappearance is still considered a missing persons case and remains unsolved.