In 1961, two Wisconsin fishing buddies vanished without a trace but now the mystery of their haunting disappearance has been solved

In 1961, two Wisconsin fishing buddies vanished without a trace but now the mystery of their haunting disappearance has been solved. Ronald Wick and Carl Stolz disappeared in the early hours of February 21, 1961, after visiting an all-night bait shop near Madison, Wisconsin. Search teams looked through area lakes for years, but found no trace of the men or Wick's 1950 Ford coupe. Police, volunteers, divers, the Air Force and even a psychic joined the search. The case remained open for decades until Madison angler and diver Rick Krueger located the car in Lake Waubesa on July 21, 2006. The discovery led to the recovery of the men's remains and personal belongings.

The disappearance began at a bait shop

Wick, 19, and Stolz, 21, were hunting and fishing companions in the Madison area. Around 2 a.m. on February 21, 1961, the pair stopped at an all-night bait shop about a mile north of downtown Madison. A man identified by the shop owners as Stolz paid $2 for mayfly larvae. He also asked, “Aren’t we crazy to go out on the lake fishing at this hour?” That was the last known sighting of the two men.


The pair did not tell friends which lake they planned to visit. This created a problem for investigators. The bait shop was within a half-mile to five miles of four Madison-area lakes and about 19 miles from a fifth lake. Investigators later discovered that the men had not gone fishing. When Wick's Ford was recovered in 2006, there were no fishing hooks, split-shot weights, jigs or fishing rods inside it.

Search teams found no trace

The weather made the first searches difficult. The area had experienced warm weather before the disappearance. This weakened the lake ice. Melted snow on the ice also hid cracks, holes and thin sections. During the following week, Madison police, the Dane County Sheriff's Department and Air Force helicopters from Truax Field searched the area. They found no sign of the men or the Ford.

Divers later searched parts of the lakes. Boat crews used grappling hooks to drag lake bottoms in grids. The equipment available at the time limited the searches. GPS was still decades away, and portable side-scan sonar suitable for fishing boats was not yet available.

In March 1961, the Air Force returned to search the five lakes. Clear spring water gave searchers visibility of up to 30 feet. Investigators also checked objects that washed ashore, including hats, gloves, shoes and car tires.

By July, businesses and Wick's friends offered a $1,000 reward. Newspaper reports said hundreds of recreational divers searched possible locations. The University of Wisconsin-Madison also helped. Its experts provided sonar equipment and an underwater magnetometer. The device could detect car-sized metal objects from about 50 yards. Despite these efforts, there was no confirmed clue.

Police rejected the theory that they had run away

As months and years passed, rumors spread that Wick and Stolz had left Wisconsin to start new lives. Madison Police Department detective Robert Ferris did not accept that explanation. He had worked on the case since February 22, 1961, when Wick's older sister, Janet Hall, reported him missing.

In 1963, Ferris said the men likely had about $5 between them. Stolz had two bank accounts but never used them after disappearing. Neither man used his Social Security number again. Ferris also questioned why the men would have chosen Wick's unreliable Ford if they planned to leave. Stolz owned a 1953 Pontiac that was in better condition.

Stolz had served six months in the Army in 1958 and remained in the Army Reserve. Police requested his fingerprint file from the FBI. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover signed the letter accompanying the records. The FBI had also placed Stolz on its nationwide missing-person alert. Stolz's brother, Larry, continued asking police for updates. In December 1962, Police Chief Wilbur Emery told him that officers were still trying to locate his brother. Emery was also considering using a clairvoyant.

In 1961, two Wisconsin fishing buddies vanished without a trace but now the mystery of their haunting disappearance has been solved

The police eventually brought in Peter Hurkos, a psychic from Milwaukee who had moved to the United States from the Netherlands. Hurkos had appeared on The Steve Allen Show and claimed an 85% success rate. He had also worked with police departments in Chicago and Miami. Madison Police Inspector Herman Thomas had heard reports about Hurkos through his sister, who worked for the Miami police chief. Thomas also said he had experienced what he considered a psychic event as a child.

Before Hurkos came to Madison, Thomas gave him clothing that had belonged to Wick and Stolz. Hurkos said he would hold the clothing and use it during his work. He later joined searchers on Lake Monona on August 1, 1963. Hurkos said he sensed that the men were at the bottom of the lake. Magnets lowered into the water attached to a large object. Divers investigated and found a steel bar. The search continued on August 2. Nothing was found.

On August 3, University of Wisconsin-Madison magnetometer experts joined the search. The equipment detected another object. Divers found a 50-gallon steel drum and beer cans. The magnetometer suggested that a larger object was beneath the lakebed.

A Navy team used sonar on August 10. The equipment found nothing on the lake bottom or within the first five feet of sediment. The search ended in September after Madison Gas and Electric officials identified the large metal object as an I-beam. The beam had been placed deep in the lakebed to anchor an underwater fence near the power plant intake pipes.

Hurkos had meanwhile told The Steve Allen Show that Wick and Stolz had been found and that police were recovering their bodies. Madison police asked a local television station to allow Inspector Thomas to explain that neither the car nor the bodies had been found. Hurkos did not return to Madison. His search became the subject of criticism, including an editorial in The Capital Times. Some Madison police officers reportedly called the effort “Thomas' Folly.”

The Ford was finally found in Lake Waubesa

The organized search ended, although individuals and small groups continued looking at Madison-area lakes. The answer came on July 21, 2006. Madison angler and diver Rick Krueger detected Wick's 1950 Ford on sonar in Lake Waubesa. The car was about 600 yards east of Brams Point on the western shoreline.

The discovery came 45 years and five months after the disappearance. The Dane County Sheriff's Department began recovery work two days later. A barge was positioned above the wreck. Two water pumps were used during the recovery.

Starting August 1, three two-person dive teams worked in shifts. The car was about 35 feet below the surface. The recovery site was near a boat launch at the end of Libby Road. Detective Ferris had previously believed the men may have entered Lake Waubesa from that area.

Krueger believed a launch at the end of McConnell Street was more likely. The landing was about 900 yards northwest of the wreck. Members of Wick's family also believed he may have entered the lake there.

A resident had told investigators in 1961 that she saw a car on the lake ice at about 6:30 a.m. on the day the men disappeared. Investigators could not determine the exact route the Ford took across the ice.

Why earlier searches missed the car?

The wreck lay in the deepest part of Lake Waubesa. Much of the Ford was buried in sediment. Jeff Nelson, the Sheriff's Department dive master, said grappling hooks were unlikely to find it. The hooks could slide past the vehicle without catching it.

The divers also found no fishing hooks, weights, lures or broken fishing line around the vehicle. Visibility during the 2006 recovery was poor. Divers initially had about four to five feet of visibility. Sediment movement later reduced it to about six inches.

Nelson worked with diver Tamara Thomsen to create a handheld dredge. A local plumbing company built it using fire hose and PVC pipe. Water pumps pulled mud and silt through the dredge. Solid objects were collected in a mesh bag.

Divers worked for about 30 minutes before bringing each bag to the surface. Their air tanks were nearly empty when they returned to the barge. The recovery produced hand bones from Stolz near the passenger door and hand bones from Wick near the driver-side door.

Divers removed mud around the driver's door and opened it with a crowbar. They recovered more bones and the skulls from inside and around the vehicle. They also found Wick's firearms in the trunk: a 7mm Japanese military rifle and a 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun.

Personal belongings helped identify the scene

Investigators recorded the recovered items. They included two Old Style beer bottle caps, clothing buttons, two wristwatches, two hair combs, two leather belts, a hat or cap visor, both wallets, chewing gum, and a coin purse.

The purse contained four pennies, three nickels, one quarter and two keys. On August 9, two cranes lifted the Ford onto the barge. The recovery team later found another bone, a slip-on shoe, two .22-caliber rounds, two clothing buttons and a piece of car trim around the vehicle.

Forensics investigator Marie Burgette-Bach wrapped the car in plastic before it was transported to the police evidence facility. After the car dried for five days, she conducted another examination on August 14. She found six to eight inches of mud and parts of seat frames on the floor. Three more bones were recovered.

Other objects included Wick's keys still hanging from the ignition, a Kodak Brownie 8-mm movie camera, two tire irons, a spare tire and a plastic ice scraper from a Madison Texaco business. The old telephone number, CH4-1229, was still visible on the scraper.

What happened to Wick and Stolz?

The evidence showed that the Ford had gone through the ice on Lake Waubesa. The hood appeared to have struck the ice, leaving a dent on the right front. Water pressure kept the doors closed as the car sank.

The Ford rolled over and went nose first toward the lake bottom. Police reports described the car as resting on its roof, with its bottom angled at 31 degrees and tilted seven degrees toward the passenger side.

The remains and belongings were recovered from the vehicle and surrounding sediment. The exact point where Wick drove onto the ice could not be established. Investigators also could not determine how long the car traveled on the ice before it broke through.

Families finally received answers

After the forensic examination, the car was released to a salvage yard. Wick's family requested that it be crushed into scrap metal. Before the car was taken away, Wick's brother Dennis and his two daughters viewed it at the police facility.

The police also returned the rear license plate to Dennis. The Japanese rifle and Remington shotgun were returned to Wick's brother Bob, who had restored the rifle before giving it to Ron. Larry Stolz told newspapers that he wished their father had lived long enough to know what happened to Carl. Their father died in 1964.

Carl's wife, Nancy, remarried after his disappearance. Her new husband adopted her two young sons. In May 1961, her attorney filed a life-insurance claim after Carl's insurer was declared insolvent.

Wick's family later claimed his life-insurance payment after Wisconsin's seven-year waiting period for declaring a missing person dead. On June 2, 1968, his family gathered at Immanuel Lutheran Church on Spaight Street in Madison for his memorial service. The remains of both men were buried beside other family members.

Why the case remained unsolved for 45 years?

The disappearance lasted for decades because searchers had limited information and limited equipment. The men did not say where they were going. The ice conditions made searches difficult. The car sank into the deepest part of Lake Waubesa and became partly covered by mud. Searchers used divers, helicopters, boats, grappling hooks, sonar and a magnetometer. Even the psychic Peter Hurkos joined the effort.

The 2006 discovery showed the limits of the earlier searches. Modern sonar located the vehicle, while the dredging and recovery operation allowed investigators to retrieve the remains and personal belongings.

The case ended with evidence that the two men had gone onto Lake Waubesa and that their car had fallen through the ice. The precise route they took and the exact moment the ice gave way remain unknown.