Travis Wendell Burley

• Missing Since 04/01/2002
• Missing From Baltimore, Maryland
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race Black
• Date of Birth 06/29/1982 (42)
• Age 19 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 165 pounds
• Associated Vehicle(s) Green minivan
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes. Burley's nickname is Phat Harold. He has a healed gunshot wound to his right thigh.

Details of Disappearance

Burley was last seen leaving his mother's home in the 2900 block of Southland Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland on April 1, 2002. He left in a green minivan and has never been heard from again. He left behind an infant son. His mother stated it would be uncharacteristic of him to abandon his child.

Authorities believe he was murdered by the Lexington Terrace Boys, a violent drug gang in west Baltimore whose members are believed to have been responsible for at least forty shootings and nine deaths in five years.

Burley's only two siblings were both homicide victims; they were shot to death in separate incidents. One brother's murder remains unsolved; in the other murder, the killer was also fatally shot in the gunfight.

Burley dropped out of Southern High School several years prior to his disappearance. He is a former member of the Lexington Terrace Boys and he has an arrest record that began when he was sixteen, but his mother stated he was trying to straighten out his life and had a job interview scheduled. He told her he feared for his safety and planned to buy a gun to protect himself, and that if anything happened to him one of his friends was probably responsible.

Burley was accompanied by a distant cousin, Michael Lafayette Taylor, at the time of his disappearance; Taylor was also a member of the Lexington Terrace Boys. The men had allegedly had a falling out because Burley refused to get rid of a .44 caliber revolver which Taylor had supposedly used in at least two homicides.

Along with another defendant, Keon D. Moses, Taylor was charged in connection with six gang- and drug-related murders, including Burley's, in 2002. A third defendant, Aaron Butler, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and testified against his partners in crime in exchange for a life sentence.

Authorities found bloody footprints and blood spatters on the floor and walls in a row house on North Caroline Street in Baltimore; that residence was set on fire on April 5, four days after Burley disappeared. Investigators believe he was murdered there.

Moses and Taylor were convicted of all charges in 2004. They were each facing the death penalty, but were sentenced to life in prison without parole instead. Authorities are continuing to search for Burley's remains. Foul play is suspected in his case due to the circumstances involved.