WA WA - Delmar Wayne Sample, 52, Centralia, 4 Mar 2005

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Snoopster

Snoopster

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Delmar's case sounds suspicious as he disappeared around the time that serial killer Israel Keyes was in the area and targeting people just like Del.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/1006

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/1006


Status Missing
First name Delmar
Middle name Wayne
Last name Sample
Nickname/Alias Del
Date last seen March 04, 2005 00:00
Date entered 12/12/2008
Age last seen 53 to 53 years old
Age now 61 years old
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Male
Height (inches) 68.0
Weight (pounds) 180.0

Delmar was last seen at approximately 11:00am at a gas station in the vicinity of I-5 and Harrison in Centralia, WA. His red and white 1992 Ford Ranger was later located at a roadside pullout on South Shore Rd. near Lake Quinault in Quinault, WA. Delmar may have a 24" red Mt. Fury Roadmaster mountain bike in his possession.
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1309



There are better details about the circumstances of Delmar's disappearance on the Charley Project website.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sample_delmar.html

Apparently he was last seen purchasing gas in Centralia as headed out for a weekend in the wilderness. His truck was found locked and his sleeping bag and food were in the truck. His new bicycle was missing but there were no bicycle tire tracks around the vehicle.
 
Del's friends have posted much more detailed information about their missing friend here:

http://www.quietstreams.org/Del/

There are photos of the area where Del's truck was found (near the Fletcher Canyon trailhead), of the trailhead and the river.

Apparently Del's truck came to the attention of the park rangers by Sunday March 6, as no one had registered that pickup for overnight camping. (This implies to me that the truck was there from at least Saturday March 5.)

Numerous searches have taken place, but nothing has turned up.

I hope Del's family and friends can find out what happened!
 
So why do I think Del is a possible victim of Israel Keyes?

1) It fits his M.O. IK admitted stalking people on wilderness trails or while camping. It didn't matter whether male or female or what age.
2) IK was in the area at the time, visiting local lakes ,etc. According to recently released details from the FBI, IK was spotted camping at a location only accessible by boat on March 1, and also took a day canoe trip as well as frequented the Hoko River in NW Washington on March 12 (parked his truck there). (Was he dumping Del's body?)
3) The bodies of very few of IK's victims have been found, but he did confess to dumping, on two separate occasions, a victim's body in lakes at least one of which was in NW Washington.
4) IK confessed to leaving his victims' vehicles parked away from the crime scene.
5) By all accounts Del's disappearance was surprising and out of character - so foul play is quite possible.

Just one theory.

I did see comments made on news articles about Del's disappearance that some people raised the possibility that someone followed Del and abducted him due to his access to drugs as a pharmacist at WalMart.

(I will also post this on IK's thread.)
 
Snoopster said:
Del's friends have posted much more detailed information about their missing friend here:

http://www.quietstreams.org/Del/

There are photos of the area where Del's truck was found (near the Fletcher Canyon trailhead), of the trailhead and the river.

Apparently Del's truck came to the attention of the park rangers by Sunday March 6, as no one had registered that pickup for overnight camping. (This implies to me that the truck was there from at least Saturday March 5.)

Numerous searches have taken place, but nothing has turned up.

I hope Del's family and friends can find out what happened!
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==========================================================================================

Snoopster, this sure could be one of IK victims...Just wanted to add that I read the articles you posted but in this one particular, in stating he had a mountain bike and it was not found.....Note*** in his last months while talking, he told investigators he had 2 people parked in a park scouted out (and he had rode his BIKE there) a police officer showed up to tell them the park was closed, so Keyes then decided to try and take out all 3...but then a back-up officer showed up and he laughed and told investigators it could have got ugly and said he got back on his BIKE and drove to another park in Alaska

He was known to be very athletic and he has stated several times while being investigated that he was on a bike., with all this being said, would be very curious as to know what his bike looked like!!!...Just wondering if it could be Del's bike and he thought no-one would recognize this since he was living in Alaska
 
digndoodle said:
Snoopster said:
Del's friends have posted much more detailed information about their missing friend here:

http://www.quietstreams.org/Del/

There are photos of the area where Del's truck was found (near the Fletcher Canyon trailhead), of the trailhead and the river.

Apparently Del's truck came to the attention of the park rangers by Sunday March 6, as no one had registered that pickup for overnight camping. (This implies to me that the truck was there from at least Saturday March 5.)

Numerous searches have taken place, but nothing has turned up.

I hope Del's family and friends can find out what happened![/QUOTE

==========================================================================================

Snoopster, this sure could be one of IK victims...Just wanted to add that I read the articles you posted but in this one particular, in stating he had a mountain bike and it was not found.....Note*** in his last months while talking, he told investigators he had 2 people parked in a park scouted out (and he had rode his BIKE there) a police officer showed up to tell them the park was closed, so Keyes then decided to try and take out all 3...but then a back-up officer showed up and he laughed and told investigators it could have got ugly and said he got back on his BIKE and drove to another park in Alaska

He was known to be very athletic and he has stated several times while being investigated that he was on a bike., with all this being said, would be very curious as to know what his bike looked like!!!...Just wondering if it could be Del's bike and he thought no-one would recognize this since he was living in Alaska
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Great observation digndoodle!

Del's bike was a 24 inch red Mt. Fury Roadmaster. Here's an image of the type of bike he had:

sample_bike.jpg
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Thanx for starting the thread, and excellent sleuthing Snoopster & digndoodle ...
 
http://www.chronline.com/records/article_dab4ddb0-962b-11e2-b383-001a4bcf887a.html
BBM
Pharmacist Still Missing in 2005

Delmer W. Sample, 53-year-old pharmacist at Wal-Mart in Chehalis, was still no where to be found.

He had told friends he was going to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the Oregon Coast. However, his Ford Ranger pickup truck was found near Lake Quinault, with nothing to indicate suspicious circumstances.

Sample normally went to church every Saturday and called his mother on Sunday, but he had done neither since he went missing on March 5.
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So once I mapped where he got the gas, Tillamook Creamery, and where his car ended up, I doubt he ever left the state. Seems likely that he could have met up with someone, IK is my pick, at the gas station in Centralia. Wonder if they still have the surveillance video, and if any one else showed up on it.

Troy Carney in Oregon was last seen at the Pilot truck stop before being found murdered in his campsite.

Also, Mountain View Cemetery is right near where Del got gas and was seen on videotape......

AND, the route from Centralia to Lake Quinault would make a big loop going back to Tacoma, going past/near Neah Bay and through Port Angeles.
 
One thing that is interesting to me is the bike he had with him when he disappeared. I dont know if the size of the bike is a typo but a 24" bike seems a little small for Delmar, 24" bikes are a better size for women and/or older children. Delmar was 180lbs and 5'8" which isn't very tall for a man but a 26" bike would be a better fit. Although who knows, the bike was originally around $60 from Walmart and I would say a low-end bike so resale value would not be huge even if it was brand new. If IK was as much of a bike enthusiast as some people I know, he probably would not ride/keep the Roadmaster for himself. Just a random thought I had.

Bikes are really hard to track down if not impossible so it's too bad the bike wasn't recovered and makes his case very concerning that it wasn't ever found.

Delmar seems like a nice man, I really hope he didn't actually come in contact with IK but wow the dates and known IK locations are very worrying....Great connection and find sleuthers. Was this called into FBI/Seattle Police Department/Centralia LE? If not please call it in!

I also believe I read somewhere that IK said that the men he killed never got any media/hardly any. There are like...no MSN articles on Delmar's disappearance and I don't remember ever hearing about it...so very possible.

http://www.quietstreams.org/Del/
a link with some more info
 
northxnorthwest said:
One thing that is interesting to me is the bike he had with him when he disappeared. I dont know if the size of the bike is a typo but a 24" bike seems a little small for Delmar, 24" bikes are a better size for women and/or older children. Delmar was 180lbs and 5'8" which isn't very tall for a man but a 26" bike would be a better fit. Although who knows, the bike was originally around $60 from Walmart and I would say a low-end bike so resale value would not be huge even if it was brand new. If IK was as much of a bike enthusiast as some people I know, he probably would not ride/keep the Roadmaster for himself. Just a random thought I had.

Bikes are really hard to track down if not impossible so it's too bad the bike wasn't recovered and makes his case very concerning that it wasn't ever found.

Delmar seems like a nice man, I really hope he didn't actually come in contact with IK but wow the dates and known IK locations are very worrying....Great connection and find sleuthers. Was this called into FBI/Seattle Police Department/Centralia LE? If not please call it in!

I also believe I read somewhere that IK said that the men he killed never got any media/hardly any. There are like...no MSN articles on Delmar's disappearance and I don't remember ever hearing about it...so very possible.

http://www.quietstreams.org/Del/
a link with some more info
Click to expand...

No, I haven't called it in yet. I wanted to run it past you guys, plus, it seems like the one case that immediately raises a red flag when going through the Washington missing persons cases when looking at the FBI timeline info...so I would find it difficult to believe that LE hasn't already flagged it.

I will call it in tomorrow.

In the end, even if we suspect IK may have been involved, we really haven't come up with any new information yet to prove it. Unless it's the bike connection....?
 
Snoopster said:
No, I haven't called it in yet. I wanted to run it past you guys, plus, it seems like the one case that immediately raises a red flag when going through the Washington missing persons cases when looking at the FBI timeline info...so I would find it difficult to believe that LE hasn't already flagged it.

I will call it in tomorrow.

In the end, even if we suspect IK may have been involved, we really haven't come up with any new information yet to prove it. Unless it's the bike connection....?
Click to expand...

I've been browsing the WA section on The Charley Project just reading about a couple cases at a time and I guess I missed his profile but I think it is the most fitting after the ones I have read as well. I believe that it could be possible and it wouldn't hurt to call it in even if LE is already on it which they might or might not be, they may have more information available about Delmar's disappearance then released so at least they could rule it in or out. WA has a great database called HITS, I wish I could use it lol, that connects many many crimes together so I am sure they are using it a lot. Here is a link about it http://www.atg.wa.gov/HITS/Overview.aspx#.Uhq_jmTTVjE

IMO I think the fact that Delmar was out in the wilderness alone (where IK liked to hunt victims) is enough to be concerned. Not to mention he was not considered depressed at the time and unlikely that he "ran away" according to family/friends. He was a pharmacist but I have not read anything that indicates he was involved in anything seedy or that anyone in particular was out to get him. In fact there just isn't really any information out there about him at all which is sad. :/

Was he trying to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (went there once, many samples and you can buy bulk amounts of dairy products for cheaper, was he doing that?) or was he intending to go camping/hiking/whatever out in the wilderness or a little of both combined? I wonder if he was meeting up with anyone or just wanted to try out his new bike (again why would you buy a new bike very soon before disappearing if you were distraught and planning on leaving or ending things).
 
The little bit of information there is says he told friends he was going to visit the cheese factory. Centralia is north of his house, the cheese factory was south, but he could have driven into Centralia just because it has closer/cheaper gas, IK spotted him and things went pear-shaped from there.

I agree with northxnorthwest though...taking a bike to the cheese factory seems odd.

The big cemetery a couple of streets over from the gas stations was an admitted hunting ground for IK. Could he see the gas stations from there? IDK.
 
O.K., so now I've gone and done it.

I called the Lewis Co. Sheriff's office. The person that answered seemed confused that I wanted to provide a tip on an old missing person's case. After leaving me on hold she told me that she was transferring me to 'Dispatch'. I said, Dispatch, really? they take tips?".

So, I was transferred to Dispatch and it was clear that they didn't know quite what to do with me. So they took my name and phone number and that was that. I asked if I could just leave a message, but they said it was best if someone called me.

So now the cat is out of the bag. My family already thinks I'm a little over the edge with 'this crime stuff', so, of course they will now receive a call from a sheriff's department from across the continent, which will clearly justify their suspicions.
:blushing:

Perhaps I should have just emailed??
 
Snoopster said:
O.K., so now I've gone and done it.

I called the Lewis Co. Sheriff's office. The person that answered seemed confused that I wanted to provide a tip on an old missing person's case. After leaving me on hold she told me that she was transferring me to 'Dispatch'. I said, Dispatch, really? they take tips?".

So, I was transferred to Dispatch and it was clear that they didn't know quite what to do with me. So they took my name and phone number and that was that. I asked if I could just leave a message, but they said it was best if someone called me.

So now the cat is out of the bag. My family already thinks I'm a little over the edge with 'this crime stuff', so, of course they will now receive a call from a sheriff's department from across the continent, which will clearly justify their suspicions.
:blushing:

Perhaps I should have just emailed??
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me when I called about Dennis Kunkel. Acted totally surprised that someone was calling about it, didn't know what to do with it, and it didn't go anywhere even though I called every number of every person I could find on his case. :sigh:

Makes you wonder how they ever solve old missing persons cases.

The husband dislikes how much time I spend "on a serial killer". Thinks I could be spending my time in a more positive, productive manner. :candle:
 
Received a call from an officer from Lewis County Sheriff's office....he wasn't at all familiar with the case. When I explained my suspicions he said, wasn't IK further north than here?
I explained that IK traveled around and that is exactly why the FBI released their timeline, and that I would be surprised, although not certain, if they hadn't already identified Delmar as a potential victim at least worth looking at.

The officer asked me if I would be available tomorrow to speak with the detective involved with Delmar's case so I could pass long my information.

I asked if it would make sense for me to simply email them with my observations as I had no special personal information, but he said it would be best for me to speak to the detective.

(O.K. so now my family is calling me Deputy Dawg, as I had to tell them to expect a call from the sheriff's office. Sheesh, this gives them a whole new pile of ammunition to tease me!!)

To be continued....
 
Awesome job! I'm sure LE is going to dig up their files on him tomorrow or maybe review anything they have. Cold cases do seem so hard to solve and do get totally forgotten about which is sad. :( I'm glad you called it in though because I feel like some cases, just calling in a tip stimulates new thoughts about the case for LE maybe and who knows maybe Delmar's file will be passed over to the IK task force? to be reviewed (I wonder if they have made any connection?)
 
I was a coworker of Del's when he went missing. Let me tell you, it is a horrible feeling for someone to disappear and leave so many unanswered questions. The thing about Del was he was very reliable. When he didn't show up for work on Monday, I think it was, I was immediately suspicious that something bad had happened. I felt this way within 15 minutes of him not showing up. The police, of course, would not let us file a missing persons report for 24 hours. He had the weekend before this off so he could have gone missing any time during that weekend.

Also, Del was a very kind person, who would give anything to anyone that needed it. He once told me that he would give me his house if he felt like I needed it more than he did, and I truly believe that he would have done so. If he met a stranger somewhere while traveling or hiking, he would not be at all suspicious of them. If someone were to flag him down by a roadside, he would stop and help. If someone asked him for a ride somewhere, he would have given it.

I recently read about Israel Keyes online in the news. After reading about his whereabouts and particularly, being located in the Olympic Peninsula, I feel like we may have found the answer. Del's truck was found by Lake Quinalt which is at the southwestern corner of the Olympic National Forest. No evidence was ever found near his vehicle. However, he had told us he was going to Tillamook, which is south ... in Oregon. He was single though and there was no reason that he couldn't just change his mind and go elsewhere. I am not sure why he would drive from his home in Onalaska, WA all the way to Centralia, WA to get gas. Not because it's cheaper, he was a pharmacist, they make good money. So he either changed his mind and decided to go north, or he had some errand to run in the Centralia area before heading out.

I am extremely curious to know where the information about IK staking about Mtn View Cemetery in Centralia is coming from. The reason is, I live right next to this cemetery and have since 1998 and since that time have always taken walks through this cemetery with my family or on my own. Now obviously, this serial killer is no longer staking out the place, but wow this makes me feel really weird. I would like to state that the cemetery is about 2 blocks from the gas station, with several buildings in between and you cannot see people at the gas station when you are in the cemetery. Many of the residential streets near the cemetery have no sidewalks, so many people walk through the cemetery as a method of commuting, particularly children going to the middle school behind Safeway.

Unfortunately, since IK managed to do himself in, we will probably never have an answer. The Olympic Peninsula is an enormous place with many lakes and rivers. It sounds like he had a method of disposing bodies into bodies of water and pretty much making them disappear over time.
 
mookmook said:
I was a coworker of Del's when he went missing. Let me tell you, it is a horrible feeling for someone to disappear and leave so many unanswered questions. The thing about Del was he was very reliable. When he didn't show up for work on Monday, I think it was, I was immediately suspicious that something bad had happened. I felt this way within 15 minutes of him not showing up. The police, of course, would not let us file a missing persons report for 24 hours. He had the weekend before this off so he could have gone missing any time during that weekend.

Also, Del was a very kind person, who would give anything to anyone that needed it. He once told me that he would give me his house if he felt like I needed it more than he did, and I truly believe that he would have done so. If he met a stranger somewhere while traveling or hiking, he would not be at all suspicious of them. If someone were to flag him down by a roadside, he would stop and help. If someone asked him for a ride somewhere, he would have given it.

I recently read about Israel Keyes online in the news. After reading about his whereabouts and particularly, being located in the Olympic Peninsula, I feel like we may have found the answer. Del's truck was found by Lake Quinalt which is at the southwestern corner of the Olympic National Forest. No evidence was ever found near his vehicle. However, he had told us he was going to Tillamook, which is south ... in Oregon. He was single though and there was no reason that he couldn't just change his mind and go elsewhere. I am not sure why he would drive from his home in Onalaska, WA all the way to Centralia, WA to get gas. Not because it's cheaper, he was a pharmacist, they make good money. So he either changed his mind and decided to go north, or he had some errand to run in the Centralia area before heading out.

I am extremely curious to know where the information about IK staking about Mtn View Cemetery in Centralia is coming from. The reason is, I live right next to this cemetery and have since 1998 and since that time have always taken walks through this cemetery with my family or on my own. Now obviously, this serial killer is no longer staking out the place, but wow this makes me feel really weird. I would like to state that the cemetery is about 2 blocks from the gas station, with several buildings in between and you cannot see people at the gas station when you are in the cemetery. Many of the residential streets near the cemetery have no sidewalks, so many people walk through the cemetery as a method of commuting, particularly children going to the middle school behind Safeway.

Unfortunately, since IK managed to do himself in, we will probably never have an answer. The Olympic Peninsula is an enormous place with many lakes and rivers. It sounds like he had a method of disposing bodies into bodies of water and pretty much making them disappear over time.
Click to expand...

Welcome mookmook! I'm so glad to see you post here!!

I am so sorry that you "lost" your co-worker. Delmar sounds like a wonderful, kind soul. To have him simply disappear must have been upsetting.

Regarding the cemetery, I didn't see any specific mention of that particular cemetery in the media articles or the FBI releases. I may have simply missed it or the person posting it could have simply been referring to the fact that IK said he did stalk people in cemeteries. The poster might have simply noticed that there was a cemetery near the gas station that IK filled up at and simply theorized that this could have been a place IK might have been.

I sure hope we find out what happened to Delmar.

:please:
 
<respectfully sniped BM for focus>
Originally Posted by mookmook
Unfortunately, since IK managed to do himself in, we will probably never have an answer. The Olympic Peninsula is an enormous place with many lakes and rivers. It sounds like he had a method of disposing bodies into bodies of water and pretty much making them disappear over time.
Click to expand...


QUOTE Israel Keyes: "You'll get the whole story eventually"..
 
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