Jesse Albertine Hoover

• Missing Since 05/20/1983
• Missing From Millinocket, Maine
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 06/13/1929 (94)
• Age 54 years old
• Height and Weight 5'8 - 5'10, 240 - 250 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue windbreaker, blue jeans and a blue shirt, and carrying a blue knapsack.
• Medical Conditions Hoover has epilepsy and needs medication.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Graying brown hair, blue eyes.. Hoover's two bottom teeth are missing.

Details of Disappearance

Hoover was last seen on May 20, 1983 at the Baxter State Park Headquarters in Millinocket, Maine. She had traveled from Texas to Maine to hike the Appalachian Trail, which extends along the East Coast from Maine down to Georgia.

She was unfamiliar with the area, had no particular knowledge of hiking and no specialist equipment with her, and no more than $15 or $20 in cash. She planned to wire home for money and pick up her prescriptions as she passed through towns on the way.

Hoover was going to climb Mount Katahdin on May 20, but park rangers refused to permit it because they felt she was unprepared. She was last seen at the trailhead of the 100-Mile Wilderness, the most remote stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

Although hikers are advised to carry eight to ten days' worth of food through the 100-Mile Wilderness, all Hoover had was some beef jerky. Temperatures in the area reached a high of 72 during the day, but fell down to around thirty degrees that night, and it was raining. Hoover could have developed hypothermia under those conditions.

Hoover's sister reported her missing on July 11, almost two months after she was last seen. An extensive search of the area turned up no sign of her, and no other area hikers remembered having seen her. Her case remains unsolved.