Disappearance of Derrick Engebretson
American missing person case
Derrick James Engebretson (July 5, 1990 – disappeared December 5, 1998) is an American child who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Winema National Forest near Rocky Point, Oregon. On the evening of December 5, 1998, Engebretson vanished while searching for a Christmas tree with his father and grandfather, who realized they had lost sight of him in the late afternoon. Footprints and a snow angel near the road were found, but by the time law enforcement arrived that evening, a blizzard prevented immediate searches.
Over the ensuing weeks, law enforcement and volunteer searchers continued to traverse the area, but no sign of Engebretson was found. Subsequent reports of a mysterious vehicle in the area that day were made. In October 1999, graffiti was discovered in a rural rest area bathroom south of Portland, which purportedly referred to Engebretson; the content of the graffiti was never made public. In 2008, it was revealed that Frank James Milligan, a convicted child rapist, was considered a potential suspect in Engebretson's disappearance. As of 2026, Engebretson's whereabouts remain unknown.
Disappearance
On December 5, 1998, eight-year-old Derrick Engebretson traveled to Pelican Butte with his father and grandfather near Rocky Point, Oregon, roughly 30 miles (48 km) from Klamath Falls and immediately south of Crater Lake National Park. The three had planned to look for a Christmas tree.
“Disappearance of Derrick Engebretson” enters the record as american missing person case. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Disappearance, Derrick and Engebretson can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Disappearance of Derrick Engebretson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.