5 missing persons cases remain unsolved in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Thousands of people are reported lost or missing in national parks every year and there are a few missing persons cases of people who disappeared in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that remain unsolved years later.
National Park Service spokesperson Cynthia Hernandez spoke with 6 News on Thursday to explain more about missing or lost persons cases in national parks. She explained that through July 22 of this year, more than 2,200 people had been at the center of search and rescue incidents in national parks in 2024.
That number, which includes data from the more than 400 national parks nationwide, she said includes cases where a child is temporarily separated from their parents and is reunited with them at a visitor center as well as more complex, multi-day searches. She explained that the vast majority of the people who are considered lost in national parks are quickly reunited with their families by rangers.
The National Park Service has a list of the 25 “cold cases” on its website, and only four are missing persons cases from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. While four of 25 may feel like a high percentage, the park with the most missing persons cases on the list is Yosemite National Park, which has 10 entries on the list. Hernandez said that as long a case is open, there is still an operation in progress to find them even though it may look different than a search for someone who might go missing today.
Learn more about the cases involving people who disappeared inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park below.
Dennis Lloyd Martin
Martin’s case is one of the oldest missing persons cases in East Tennessee. On June 14, 1969, the six-year-old Martin disappeared while playing hide-and-seek in Spence Field near the Appalachian Trail. According to his profile on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Martin disappeared behind a bush and was never seen again.
When he went missing, Martin was wearing a red T-shirt, green shorts, white socks, and oxford shoes. He had dark brown, wavy hair and brown eyes. NamUs also attached an age progression to his profile from 2014 showing what he might have looked like at age 51.
If he was found today, Martin would be 62 years old.
Teresa “Trenny” Gibson
While on a trip with her high school on October 8, 1976, 16-year-old Gibson disappeared. NPS reports state that she was last seen hiking with her group back from Andrew’s Bald Trail to parking area of Kuwohi, formerly known as Clingmans Dome.
The records explain that Gibson was last seen by a few others in the group around 2:50 p.m. as they were about half-a-mile away from the parking area. One person in the group told crews that they thought she “may have tried to go cross-country to [the] Dome parking area.”
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