Name: Joseph Laurence Halpern
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: August 15, 1933
Location Last Seen: Estes Park Vicinity, Larimer County, Colorado
Date of Birth: September 11, 1910
Age: 22 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 165 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Louis Hollenbuck, Lewis Hollenbeck, "Teacher"
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Right eye crossed with a slight scar above it; slight scars under the chin
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Available
Clothing: Light blue shirt, light brown trousers. One report notes white shirt with blue stripes.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Heavy shoes or mukluks; army knapsack
Mr. Halpern, a doctoral candidate in astronomy at the University of Chicago, disappeared on August 14, 1933 while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park near Taylor Peak. He disappeared when he started up the peak alone when his friend, Joseph Gerrick, decided not to follow him. When Halpern failed to return, Gerrick reported him missing. After extensive searches, authorities presumed that Mr. Halpern died from exposure.
Unsubstantiated reports place him in Phoenix, AZ in December of 1934, with the Lewis Brothers Circus in Michigan in the summer of 1935, and traveling with CCC near Alliance, Nebraska in May of 1935. He was also a computer for the Army at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 1932. Mr. Halpern was fluent in French and German, could read and write in Cyrillic, and was a highly skilled mathematician, astronomer, and scientist. He was employed for the summer at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
Agency Name: Glendale (CO) Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective Perkins
Agency Phone Number: 303-759-1511
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 2012-32
Agency Name: Colorado Bureau of Investigation
Agency Contact Person: Criminal Intelligence Officer Audrey Simkins
Agency Phone Number: 303-239-5764
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 2012-32
NamUs Case Number: 2797
NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs
Boulder Daily Camera
Colorado Bureau of Investigation
Greeley Daily Tribune (8/19/33; 8/21/33)
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 11-13-2021 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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