Carnes was last seen in Wells, Nevada on April 13, 2011. He was driving a green Subaru Forester with the Nevada license plate number 719 SDN when the Nevada Highway Patrol stopped him for a traffic violation at 9:00 p.m. He had been visiting relatives in Toledo, Ohio and was on his way back home to Reno, Nevada. When Carnes spoke to the patrolman, he indicated he was following a truck driver and the trucker was going to Elko, Nevada. Carnes has never been heard from again and the truck driver he was supposedly following has never been identified.

Just before 6:00 a.m. the next day, Carnes's vehicle was found abandoned in a rural area at the 205 Pumpernickel Valley exit ramp off Interstate 80 near Winnemucca, Nevada. There was no sign of him at the scene and his cherished pet dog, an eight-year-old male named Lucky, is also missing. Lucky is a brown Akita/mixed breed and slightly overweight; it weighs about 80 to 100 pounds. A photo of the dog is posted below this case summary. Carnes rarely went anywhere without it.

Carnes's truck had gas in it and was in operable condition when it was found, but it was high-centered and stuck in some sagebrush, and facing the wrong direction. All of Carnes's personal belongings, including his checkbook, were inside the vehicle. There were no indications of a struggle, only a single set of footprints leading away from the scene. Curiously, the place where the truck was found is the same exit where Judith Casida's car was found after she disappeared in 2006; she was never located. Authorities have no evidence that the two cases are connected, however.

Carnes is a World War II veteran who served in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. He is also a former truck driver. He is close to his family and was in excellent health for his age at the time of his disappearance. Although there is no hard evidence of foul play in his case, his family and the police believe he came to harm. His disappearance remains unsolved.

Above: Carnes's dog, Lucky