Death of Don Kemp

Mary Kemp never accepted the findings and claimed up until her death in 2014 that her son was murdered by Mark Dennis.

Kemp's case was covered in the first-ever episode of long-running investigative show Unsolved Mysteries on 20 January 1987.

Kemp's decomposed remains were discovered in 1986 by hunters a few miles from where his car was found. The autopsy showed no signs of foul play, and the authorities are satisfied that he walked into the wilderness voluntarily and died in or before the blizzard in the immediate aftermath. However, it remains a mystery as to how Kemp's body was not found during the initial search, as his body was located in a clearly visible place that had already been searched.

Kemp left New York in September 1982 and drove to Wyoming in his Chevrolet Blazer. On November 15, 1982, the day before he disappeared, he visited a museum in Cheyenne, where he stayed for around two hours and did not speak to anyone. Upon leaving the museum, he left behind his briefcase, which contained his diaries, address book, traveler's checks and glasses needed for driving.

On the morning of November 16, 1982, Kemp's car was found abandoned with its engine still running, on a ramp off I-80, 40 mi (64 km) from the nearest town. The car was so full of belongings that there would have been no space for anyone except the driver. A single pair of footprints in the snow led investigators six miles (9.7 km) into the wilderness to a barn, where they found a pile of sticks arranged to start a fire, and three of Kemp's socks. There were no footprints leading away from the barn, but Kemp was nowhere to be found. Nearby, investigators found a duffel bag containing laundry soap, clothes and a teapot, all of which belonged to Kemp.

Paul Donald Kemp Jr. (April 21, 1947 – ca. November 16, 1982) was an American advertising executive from New York who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in a remote part of Wyoming in November 1982. He remained missing until his remains were discovered in 1986, a short distance from where his car was found abandoned four years previously.