Nathan Richard Hiatt

• Missing Since 12/03/2007
• Missing From Winlock, Washington
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Date of Birth 03/13/1927 (99)
• Age 80 years old
• Height and Weight 5'10, 160 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A green raincoat, blue and white long-sleeved western-style shirt with snaps, a white undershirt, blue Wrangler jeans, a black Foster Farms hat, black sneakers, a gold ring on each hand and a Timex watch.
• Distinguishing Characteristics White male. Gray hair, brown eyes. Hiatt goes by his middle name, Richard. He wears eyeglasses.

Details of Disappearance

Hiatt was last seen standing in his backyard on Byham Road in Winlock, Washington on December 3, 2007. The basement of the home had begun to flood with water and Hiatt went into the backyard, perhaps to check the outflow line from his sump pump. He has never been heard from again.

Authorities believe he fell into Waller's Creek, which flows in a deep ravine behind Hiatt's home. Part of the bank was found caved in after Hiatt's disappearance. Heavy rains had caused major flooding in the area at the time; 500 people had to be rescued, and one person drowned. An extensive search of the floodwaters turned up a man's coat which Hiatt's son and daughter-in-law said belonged to him, but which his wife didn't recognize.

On the morning of his disappearance, Hiatt had coffee with his son. After his son returned home, ten minutes away, he found a message from his father on his answering machine. Hiatt's message said "I need help" in a panicky voice. His son drove back to Hiatt's home, but by then Hiatt had disappeared.

Hiatt's body has never been recovered and he remains classified as a missing person. He is a retired Weyerhaeuser dock worker and enjoys fishing. He and his wife had married twenty years earlier, after he moved from Washington state to Nebraska. His family published a death announcement in the local newspaper on December 19, two weeks after he went missing.