Overview

Last Seen: July 29, 1970
Location: Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles County, California
Age: 50
Status: Missing; presumed lost at sea
NamUs: MP11895
Doe Network: 4745DMCA

Main circumstances: Earl Atkinson disappeared after taking a small boat offshore from the Pleasure Pier in Avalon. The boat, which was reportedly scheduled for repairs the following day, was later discovered drifting without anyone aboard approximately 1½ miles north of Avalon Bay. Atkinson was never found.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Earl Atkinson Missing Person Case: Man Vanishes After Boat Trip Off Avalon, California in 1970

Brief Case Summary

Last Seen: July 29, 1970
Location: Avalon, Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles County, California
Age: 50
Status: Missing; presumed lost at sea
NamUs: MP11895
Doe Network: 4745DMCA

Main circumstances: Earl Atkinson disappeared after taking a small boat offshore from the Pleasure Pier in Avalon. The boat, which was reportedly scheduled for repairs the following day, was later discovered drifting without anyone aboard approximately 1½ miles north of Avalon Bay. Atkinson was never found.

Earl Atkinson Disappears From Avalon in July 1970

More than five decades after Earl Atkinson disappeared off the coast of Southern California, the circumstances surrounding his final known boat trip remain unresolved.

Atkinson was 50 years old when he vanished from Avalon, a community on Santa Catalina Island in Los Angeles County, on July 29, 1970. He was born February 28, 1920, and was approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and 150 pounds at the time of his disappearance. He was reportedly wearing a gray T-shirt and suntan-colored pants.

A Small Boat and an Unexplained Disappearance

According to accounts compiled from missing-person records, Atkinson had a small boat associated with the Pleasure Pier in Avalon. The available descriptions of what happened contain slightly different wording, but agree on the critical sequence of events.

Atkinson went out in the small boat on July 29, 1970. The vessel was expected to undergo repairs on July 30. Atkinson did not return as expected and was not heard from again.

The boat was eventually found drifting without its occupant approximately one and a half miles north of Avalon Bay.

There was no sign of Atkinson aboard the vessel, and he has never been located.

Earl Atkinson Never Reported for Work

A version of the case circumstances attributed to NamUs provides another important detail: Atkinson reportedly failed to appear for work on July 30, 1970, the day after he disappeared.

His boat was subsequently located adrift roughly 1½ miles north of Avalon Bay, but Atkinson himself was nowhere to be found.

The discovery of an empty boat offshore has understandably led to the longstanding belief that Atkinson may have gone overboard and died at sea. The Charley Project consequently classifies him as a lost/injured missing person and states that he is presumed lost at sea.

There is, however, an important distinction between that presumption and a confirmed death. No publicly available record reviewed for this article documents the recovery of Atkinson’s remains.

Was Earl Atkinson the Victim of a Crime?

The available public case information does not establish that Earl Atkinson was murdered or that foul play caused his disappearance.

The known circumstances are consistent with a possible maritime accident, particularly because his unattended boat was discovered offshore. At the same time, the absence of a body means the precise sequence of events aboard or around the boat cannot be established from the publicly available records.

There is no publicly documented evidence reviewed for this article identifying another person as a suspect, describing an assault aboard the vessel, or announcing an arrest connected to Atkinson’s disappearance.

For that reason, the case is most accurately described as an unresolved missing-person and presumed-lost-at-sea case rather than a confirmed homicide.

More Than Five Decades Without Answers

Atkinson’s disappearance has remained part of national missing-person databases for decades.

His NamUs number is MP11895, while the Doe Network identifies the case as 4745DMCA. A law-enforcement case number published in secondary case documentation is 070-14620-0398-400.

The Doe Network’s current geographical and chronological indexes continue to list Earl Atkinson among missing men from California, an indication that the case has not been publicly recorded there as resolved.

The Doe Network’s historical update records also show that information associated with case 4745DMCA has been maintained over the years, including a recorded case-information update in 2018.

Latest Publicly Available Information

As of August 29, 2026, no publicly announced investigative breakthrough was located showing that Earl Atkinson has been found or that investigators have determined exactly what happened to him.

The currently accessible Doe Network indexes continue to carry Atkinson as a missing person, while other case resources continue to describe him as missing and presumed lost at sea.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department remains the law-enforcement agency identified with the case. The department’s current materials confirm that its Homicide Bureau Missing Persons Detail can be reached at 323-890-5500, the same number associated with Atkinson’s case in longstanding missing-person records.

LASD documentation published in 2026 also confirms that the Homicide Bureau Missing Persons Detail continues to handle and assist with missing-adult investigations and uses that telephone number.

No publicly released information located during this review describes a recent search of Avalon Bay, a newly developed witness, forensic testing, a recovered body linked to Atkinson, or a criminal suspect. That does not necessarily mean investigators possess no additional information; investigative files can contain material that has never been released publicly.

The Mystery of What Happened Off Avalon

The surviving facts leave Earl Atkinson’s disappearance centered on one haunting piece of evidence: his abandoned boat.

On July 29, 1970, Atkinson went out from Avalon. By the following day, he had failed to appear for work, and the vessel connected to his trip was found drifting approximately a mile and a half north of Avalon Bay.

Atkinson was gone.

Whether he accidentally fell overboard, encountered an emergency at sea, or experienced some other event has never been publicly established. More than half a century later, his missing-person case remains a reminder of how quickly a routine trip on the water can become an enduring mystery.

Anyone possessing credible information concerning Earl Atkinson’s disappearance should contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau Missing Persons Detail.