Harold Munson hasn't seen his older brother in a quarter century. But the 61-year-old still holds out hope.

"I always think one of these days he's going to drive up my driveway," Harold Munson said. "It might be a dream. But I still have faith he's still alive."

It has been 25 years since Oliver Wendell Munson was supposed to show up to teach his shop class at the now-closed Ellicott City Middle School.

He never arrived, and now, a quarter century later, after his missing persons case has been combed through by many investigators, police and Munson's family still do not know what happened to the 39-year-old Catonsville resident that winter morning.

"We're still trying to find out what happened to Mr. Munson," said Det. Larry Gick, supervisor of Baltimore County police's cold case unit. "He disappeared under suspicious circumstances and he was never located. We've received no further information or leads in a long time."

Munson's younger brother, James, said the family is still searching for answers.

"It's a rough feeling," he said. "Every day you think about where he's at. It's 25 years and still no closure."

Left for work, never arrived

On Feb. 13, 1984, Oliver Munson walked out the door of his house and left for work. As far as anyone knows, he was never seen again.

His car was found a few blocks from his house in the 600 block of Orpington Avenue. The right front tire was flat.

Two weeks later, a stolen car was found at the edge of Leakin Park in West Baltimore.

Inside were two receipts bearing Munson's name, a shell casing and traces of unidentified blood. Police searched Leakin Park but could find no trace of Munson's body.

Gick said there was no way to test the blood found in the car for DNA back in 1984, and today that sample has deteriorated too much to be tested.

"One big problem is Oliver (Munson's body) has never been found," said Philip Goodwin, a former Baltimore City auto theft detective, who investigated the case. "There's no DNA, no dental records for him.

"The best information we can turn is that he was dumped in the Blue Mount Quarry (in White Hall, Baltimore County). Now, that's nothing but a mud pit."

In 1985, a judge in Kent County, where Munson grew up, declared Munson legally dead, the victim of "presumptive homicide."

Baltimore County police are now working with the University of North Texas and its unidentified human remains database to see if Munson's body has been recovered anywhere. Police recently took a voluntary DNA sample from Harold Munson to see if they can get a family match.

Witness in car theft trial

The best lead in Munson's disappearance in 1984 is still the best lead today, police and Munson's family say.

Dennis L. Watson, a convicted car thief, against whom Munson was supposed to testify three days after he vanished, was suspected in the disappearance of two other witnesses against him during the 1970s, police say.

Munson bought a 1983 blue Datsun sports car from Watson that turned out to have been recently stolen in Baltimore.

Goodwin said Watson ran a shop in east Baltimore, where he sold stolen cars.

Goodwin said he interrogated Watson about Munson, but Watson admitted to nothing.

"Dennis was very closed-mouth," Goodwin said. "He denied everything, even denied stealing any of the cars."

Though the auto theft case could be proven through paperwork, Munson was the state's only witness who could say he actually purchased a stolen vehicle from Watson.

Goodwin said Watson ultimately pleaded guilty to auto theft charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Goodwin said he believes Munson met a fate similar to that of other witnesses in cases involving Watson.

In 1973, Clinton Glenn, 29, of Baltimore, was found dead in a burning Volkswagen bus in a wooded area of Blue Mount Road, in Baltimore County. Glenn was scheduled to testify against Watson the next day in an armed robbery case.

Watson was charged with first-degree murder, but the case was placed on an inactive docket after a witness in that case was found dead of a drug overdose in Baltimore.

Gick said cold case investigators are trying to track down Watson to interview him again about Munson's disappearance, but have been unable to find him.

Watson has never been charged in Munson's disappearance.

'He loved his family'

James Munson, 57, who now lives in Dover, Del., said Oliver was the oldest of six children, four boys and two girls.

He attended the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore and was the first member of his family to graduate from college.

An industrial arts teacher, Oliver Munson was well liked at Ellicott City Middle School, where he took the kids bowling twice a week, James Munson said.

"He was the kind of person who loved his family," Harold Munson said. "He was honest and very intelligent."

Oliver Munson would travel to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to see his family at least twice a month, his brothers said. He liked hockey and was an Orioles and Baltimore Colts fan.

"He was the one who taught me how to ride my bicycle," James Munson says. "We always looked up to him."

Gick said police have no reason to believe Munson would have simply left Maryland without telling anyone or settling his affairs.

James agreed his brother had no reason to leave Maryland. He was very close to his mother, who died recently, and would call her every morning before he left for school.

"It's a hurtful feeling not knowing where he's at," he said. "It's like he dropped off the face of the earth."

Harold Munson said family members often talk about Oliver.

"We think about him all the time, especially around the holidays and this time of year," he said.

"There's probably not a day that goes by that I don't think about him."

Baltimore County police are asking anyone with information about Munson's disappearance to call them at 410-887-3934.

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