Part Two:
The disappearance of 13-year-old Eugene Wade Martin remains one of the most troubling unsolved missing-child cases in Iowa history. The Des Moines boy vanished in the early morning hours of August 12, 1984, while carrying out what should have been an ordinary Sunday routine — delivering newspapers along his route for The Des Moines Register. He left home around 5 a.m., reportedly alone that morning because his stepbrother, who often accompanied him, was not there.
Witnesses later told investigators they saw Eugene near the intersection of Southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive in Des Moines. He was folding newspapers and speaking with a clean-cut white man believed to be in his 30s. Observers described the interaction as calm and even friendly, resembling a casual conversation between a father and son. It would be the last confirmed sighting of him…