Overview

Last seen: November 8, 2004 — Madison Area Technical College, Madison, Wisconsin; his last reported cell-phone record was at approximately 1:20 p.m.

Main circumstances: Mortier disappeared while involved in a marijuana-distribution network. His dog was later recovered, while Mortier remained missing. Investigators eventually said they believed he was likely the victim of homicide and examined drug debts and several associates. State John Doe proceedings and a large federal drug investigation followed, but no one has been charged with killing Mortier.

Detailed Case Breakdown

The Disappearance of Amos K. Mortier: Wisconsin Missing Person Case Remains Unsolved

Amos K. Mortier was 27 years old when he disappeared from the Fitchburg and Madison, Wisconsin, area on November 8, 2004. More than two decades later, Mortier remains missing, and authorities continue to ask anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the Fitchburg Police Department.

Amos Mortier’s Last Known Movements

Mortier was last seen on November 8, 2004, at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Missing & Exploited Children & Adults, his last known cell phone activity occurred at approximately 1:20 p.m.

Mortier was 27 when he vanished. Wisconsin authorities currently describe him as a white male with brown hair and blue eyes, approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and 130 pounds. He has a small scar on his forehead above his right eyebrow and may have been wearing brown-framed glasses.

His reported clothing included blue jeans, a brown Carhartt hooded jacket, canvas-style hiking boots and a baseball cap.

Concern Grows After Mortier Disappears

Friends became concerned when they went several days without hearing from Mortier. Contemporary reports described an unusual scene at his Fitchburg residence on Lacy Road. His vehicles remained there, while friends reportedly found doors open and music playing inside.

Mortier’s dog, Gnosis, was also initially missing. The dog was subsequently located after a neighbor had taken it in.

Police and volunteers searched areas surrounding Mortier’s residence, along with other locations associated with him, but the searches failed to locate him.

Investigation Turns Toward Possible Foul Play

What began as a missing-person investigation increasingly focused on the possibility that Mortier had been the victim of a crime.

By April 2005, Fitchburg police publicly said investigators believed Mortier was probably dead and that his disappearance was likely connected to illegal drug activity.

Court proceedings later established that Mortier had been involved in a substantial marijuana-distribution operation in the Madison area. The Dane County District Attorney’s Office opened a secret John Doe proceeding after his disappearance and subpoenaed people associated with Mortier as investigators attempted to determine whether a crime had occurred.

No one, however, has been convicted or charged with killing Mortier.

The Drug Debt Investigated in Connection With Mortier’s Disappearance

Investigators examined whether a dispute involving marijuana and a substantial alleged debt could have played a role in Mortier’s disappearance.

Court records and subsequent reporting focused particularly on Jacob Stadfeld, one of Mortier’s drug associates. Investigators examined allegations that Stadfeld owed Mortier tens of thousands of dollars connected to marijuana.

Stadfeld was later prosecuted federally for his role in a marijuana-distribution conspiracy. His federal prosecution was not a prosecution for Mortier’s disappearance or death.

The investigation into Mortier ultimately intersected with a much larger federal investigation into marijuana trafficking involving Wisconsin and other states.

What Happened in the Investigation During 2008?

The year 2008 became important in the wider investigation surrounding Mortier.

Federal prosecutors pursued cases against people associated with the marijuana-distribution network. In September 2008, Stadfeld and Brent Delzer were indicted on federal drug-conspiracy charges.

In December 2008, reporting indicated that federal prosecutors wanted Stadfeld and Delzer to account for where they were on November 8, 2004—the day Mortier disappeared. Attorneys for the defendants challenged the relevance of those requests because their clients had not been charged in connection with Mortier’s disappearance.

The federal cases generated additional information for investigators, but they did not result in a homicide prosecution.

Secret Proceedings and Allegations Surface

Years of state and federal investigative work produced thousands of pages of records, including police reports, search-warrant materials, grand-jury testimony and information about Mortier’s drug-distribution network.

Reporting by Isthmus in 2009 described multiple theories investigated by authorities. The publication reported that one witness claimed another man had confessed to killing Mortier. That allegation was never established in court, the witness reportedly failed a polygraph examination, and the person accused denied involvement.

Other investigative records focused heavily on Stadfeld. Although authorities investigated him and reports described him as a prime suspect, no homicide charge was filed against him.

These distinctions remain important: allegations, witness statements and investigative suspicions are not proof that a particular person killed Mortier.

Federal Court Records Confirm the Wider Investigation

Mortier’s disappearance later appeared prominently in federal appellate court records involving Stadfeld.

In a 2012 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit explained that after Mortier disappeared in November 2004, the Dane County District Attorney’s Office opened a John Doe proceeding to determine whether a crime had been committed.

The decision also confirmed that Mortier’s known drug associates were questioned as part of that investigation and that Stadfeld’s statements to investigators subsequently became an issue in his federal marijuana-conspiracy prosecution.

The appellate case provides an important official record showing how closely the missing-person investigation and federal drug investigation became intertwined.

Latest Status of the Amos Mortier Investigation

Amos Mortier remains listed by the Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Missing & Exploited Children & Adults as a missing endangered adult. His official Wisconsin missing-person profile continues to identify November 8, 2004, as the date he disappeared from the Fitchburg area and directs tips to the Fitchburg Police Department.

His NamUs missing-person number is MP296.

Publicly available records reviewed for this article do not show a subsequent arrest or homicide charge resolving Mortier’s disappearance. More recent missing-person and cold-case organizations continue to list his case as unresolved.

Mortier has also been compared with unidentified remains in other jurisdictions over the years. Some of those possible matches have been formally excluded, but none has provided an identification or resolution of his case.

Amos Mortier Remains Missing

More than two decades after Amos Mortier walked away from Madison Area Technical College, the central question remains unanswered: What happened after his last known movements on November 8, 2004?

Investigators uncovered a complicated network of marijuana trafficking, financial disputes and conflicting witness accounts. Federal prosecutions exposed details about the people surrounding Mortier during the period immediately before his disappearance, but they did not establish in court what ultimately happened to him.

Amos Mortier remains missing, and no person has been convicted of causing his disappearance or death.

Anyone with information about Amos Mortier is encouraged to contact the Fitchburg Police Department at 608-270-4300. The department also maintains a tipster line at 608-270-4321.