Cold Case: Everett man left for camping trip and was never seen again

GRANITE FALLS — There have been rumors about what happened to Rory Shoemaker.

For 13 years that’s all there has been — rumors.

Shoemaker disappeared in 1995. The 34-year-old left his Everett home to meet up with friends for a camping trip at the Red Bridge campground east of Granite Falls.

He didn’t show up for the Labor Day camping trip. He never returned home.

Shoemaker is featured in the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives have provided the playing cards to prison and jail inmates in hopes of soliciting new tips about unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. Shoemaker, featured on the Nine of Hearts, is one of seven missing people included in the deck.

“He was a very kind, loving kid,” said his older sister, Delores Campbell.

Shoemaker had planned to move to Montana with his mother. He’d already packed up their belongings. He was going to spend one last night with his friends before the move.

“He never made it to the campground,” Campbell said.

Over the years, homicide detectives have received tips that Shoemaker was killed and buried in his car. Shoemaker’s 1979 white Datsun coupe has never been found.

Detectives used a backhoe to dig for the car in a swampy area in Granite Falls five years ago. They came up empty-handed.

They haven’t given up on finding the truth.

They recently received tips about where the car was buried. A public works crew dug at different locations in August and early last month, Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Jim Scharf said.

There was no sign of Shoemaker or the Datsun.

Detectives are hoping someone will step forward with more specific information about where the car was buried, Scharf said.

“Because of the rumors we’ve heard, we think it’s still possible the car’s in a different location,” he said. “We think people have talked about it and we’d like to have more information.”

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.