Mary Brunette Chagnon

• Missing Since 08/23/1973
• Missing From Duluth, Minnesota
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 54 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 170 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Graying black or brown hair. Mary's maiden name is Kuhl.

Details of Disappearance

Mary was last seen in Duluth, Minnesota on August 23, 1973. That day she was supposed to to travel to the Twin Cities area to speak at a workshop on women's issues. She left home between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m., driving the family car. She never arrived to her speaking engagement and a few days later her car was found abandoned in a parking lot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, wiped clean of fingerprints.

At the time of her disappearance, she lived in the 2800 block of East Superior Street in Duluth with her husband, Raymond. The couple had two sons, one of whom was in high school and the other of whom had graduated high school. A year after Mary's disappearance, Raymond moved to California. He was unable to sell his and Mary's Duluth home until Mary was declared legally dead.

In California in 1977, Raymond was arrested after he shot a female friend in the back. She survived. Two weapons were used in the assault and both guns' serial numbers had been filed off. The police stated they were "baffled" by the shooting as they could find no motive for it.

After his arrest, police searched through Raymond's belongings and found a military M-1 carbine, two or three other rifles, three boxes of ammunition, blasting caps, a fuse and what appeared to be the barrel of a tear gas grenade launcher. Raymond pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit murder, served ten months in jail and was placed on probation for three years.

In 1980, Mary was declared legally dead. Raymond put the Duluth residence up for sale. In 1981, a cleaner in now-vacant house found two cigar boxes, rigged to explode if anyone opened them. A search of the residence turned up 100 pounds of deteriorated dynamite and blasting equipment under the porch. Raymond denied any connection to the explosives and blamed his tenants. He died in Oakland in 1982.

Prior to her disappearance, Mary had been active in politics, particularly concerning women's issues. She started organizing protests against the Vietnam War in 1969 and wrote letters to the local newspaper, condemning the war and promoting the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. By early 1973 she was the 8th District coordinator for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus. She also worked as a freelance commercial artist and in 1971 she illustrated a children's book.

Raymond and Mary have a joint burial plot in Connecticut; her date of death is listed as the date she disappeared. Her case remains unsolved.