Murder of Robert Wykel

Robert James Wykel (born May 18, 1930; disappeared February 23, 1996 ) was a retired sheet metal worker from Burien, Washington, United States, who restored classic cars.

Wynn told Wykel that he had learned that a soldier at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, was offering a mid-1950s Ford Thunderbird for sale.

Wykel, who had long been looking for one, gave Wynn a thousand dollars as a deposit on the eventual sale of the car.

Bank records show that Wykel also withdrew $5,200 from his account in cash, the way he preferred to pay, to complete the transaction.

Wynn put off Wykel repeatedly when the older man pressed him as to when he could get the car.

Wykel in turn was growing increasingly frustrated with his putative middleman.

At a weekly poker game with friends and neighbors whom he excitedly told about the Thunderbird on previous occasions, Wykel said he was either going to get his money back from Wynn or the car.

On February 21, Wykel said he had finally made arrangements to pick up the car the next morning.

No one who knew Robert Wykel saw or heard from him after that.

His initial absence was not unusual, as his trips to get cars sometimes took a few days.

John Ogdon, a younger neighbor, who was part of the same weekly poker game, was a little surprised at first that Wykel had not come to his house to show off the car he had been waiting so long to get, as he often did.

When Wykel did not attend the next poker game, Ogdon became concerned.

He noticed that Wykel's Mercedes was not in his driveway, either.

He called 9-1-1 to report Wykel missing, but was told that it was not against the law if Wykel had chosen to disappear.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, Wykel's family there was also concerned.

He was not returning any phone messages, something he usually did within a short time.

Their messages on his answering machine showed their increasing worry.

Ogdon kept an eye on Wykel's house, noting that mail piled up.

He restored a 1989 Mercedes-Benz, which he drove as his own.

His other passion, fine jewelry, showed in a ring with a 1.25-carat diamond in a distinctive European cut, which he wore constantly, even when working on cars.

He often met with other retirees mornings to socialize over coffee at a White Center McDonald's.

In the early 1990s, he settled in the Seattle suburb of Burien, where he had had a successful career as a sheet metal worker and was able to take advantage of the area's abundant opportunities for the outdoor recreation activities he enjoyed.

His former wife still lived in Illinois, near their daughter and her family, but the two had been talking about reconciling and reuniting.

After retiring, he supplemented his pension by buying classic cars at auto auctions, restoring them, and reselling them for a profit.

He has not been seen by anyone who could positively identify him since 1996, when he went to see a Ford Thunderbird he was interested in purchasing.

Myron Wynn, who accompanied him at that time, was convicted 15 years later of murdering Wykel.

Wynn maintains that he is innocent and that Wykel went to Argentina.

The case was treated as a missing person investigation for years, despite early suspicion centering on Wynn, whom police named as a person of interest shortly afterwards.

In early 1996, the men were joined by Myron Wynn, a younger man who sometimes went by the name of Myron Holdredge or Michael Holdredge.

He gravitated toward Wykel, seeking out opportunities to associate with him.

At the time Wynn was unemployed, supported by a girlfriend, with whom he lived.

Prosecutors charged him with the crime in 2009, although they had not found Wykel's body.

They relied on his conflicting and evasive statements to police during the initial investigation, and a diamond Wynn gave to his then girlfriend shortly after Wykel's disappearance.

Police believed the diamond belonged to Wykel, suggesting robbery as his motive for the murder.

After Wynn's first trial in 2010 ended in a hung jury, he was retried, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The verdict was sustained on appeal.

The case has been featured in an episode of the Investigation Discovery series Disappeared.

Wykel's body remains undiscovered.

Wykel, a native of Illinois who had owned restaurants there and in New Mexico, had gone west to work on the Alaska pipeline.

His work had also taken him to foreign countries.