Name: Melvin L. Wiley
Nickname/Alias: Mel
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: July 28, 1985
Location Last Seen: Hinckley Township, Medina County, Ohio
Date of Birth: circa 1938
Age: 47 yrs old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9" - 6'0"
Weight: 160- 165 lbs
Hair Color: Graying, short-cropped
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Smoker. Solid build, with paunch; skin condition that keeps him out of the sun.
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Mel Wiley was the chief of police in Hinckley Township outside of Cleveland until he vanished without a trace on July 28, 1985.
His tan 1980 Toyota station wagon was located on July 30, at Cleveland's Lakefront State Park on Lake Erie. Park rangers noticed it around 4.00. The locked car contained a shirt, trousers, belt, shoes and socks along with Wiley's wallet with 15 dollars in cash, credit cards, his police identification and badge, suntan lotion and a towel. Searches of the park and adjacent waters produced not a hint of Wiley's fate.
A lady friend reported that the chief told her the day before his disappearance he intended to buy a bathing suit at K-Mart and go swimming with an unnamed out-of-town visitor. He never bought a suit, police said, and his friends told investigators he rarely swam.
Investigators initially believed he had drowned in Lake Erie, or was a victim of foul play. They later suspected he may have left voluntarily. He had made no apparent travel plans and no large withdrawals from bank accounts.
Wiley joined the department in 1978 and had run it since 1982. He'd been an FBI fingerprint technician, a background investigator for the U.S. Department of Defense, and an administrator for the Medina County sheriff. He was known as a poet and amateur mystery writer. He was divorced with no children. Wiley was declared dead in 1993.
Agency Name: Medina County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Sheriff Tom Miller/Detective Brandon Grimm
Agency Phone Number: 330-725-0028
Agency E-Mail: tpmiller@medinaco.org
Agency Case Number: N/A
Agency Name: Hinckley Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Chief Tim Kalavsky
Agency Phone Number: 330-278-7161
Agency E-Mail: chiefofpolice@hinckleypd.us
Agency Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: 38896
NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs
TIME - Sep. 2, 1985
Akron Beacon Journal - Aug. 6, 1965 & Jun. 12, 2000
Added: 07/28/2009; Last Updated: 04/28/2024 - By: kc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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