Overview

Last seen: November 16, 2015, in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Age: Approximately 69 years old when he disappeared.
Status: Missing.
Primary investigating agency: Ketchikan Police Department.
Main circumstances: Hamilton disappeared without a confirmed explanation; investigators followed reports of possible sightings outside Ketchikan, but those sightings could not be verified. Police also heard reports that Hamilton may have been assaulted before he vanished, but investigators said they could not verify that an assault occurred. No publicly confirmed suspect, arrest, or finding of foul play has been announced.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Gary Lloyd Hamilton Missing Person Case: Ketchikan, Alaska Disappearance Since 2015

Gary Lloyd Hamilton disappeared from Ketchikan, Alaska, in November 2015. Nearly eleven years later, his case remains publicly listed as an active missing-person case, with no confirmed explanation for what happened to him. Hamilton is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System under NamUs #MP66780, while the Ketchikan Police Department case number is 15-7869.

Very Brief Case Summary

Last seen: November 16, 2015, in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Age: Approximately 69 years old when he disappeared.
Status: Missing.
Primary investigating agency: Ketchikan Police Department.
Main circumstances: Hamilton disappeared without a confirmed explanation; investigators followed reports of possible sightings outside Ketchikan, but those sightings could not be verified. Police also heard reports that Hamilton may have been assaulted before he vanished, but investigators said they could not verify that an assault occurred. No publicly confirmed suspect, arrest, or finding of foul play has been announced.

The Disappearance of Gary Lloyd Hamilton

Gary Lloyd Hamilton was living in Ketchikan, a southeastern Alaska community located on Revillagigedo Island, when he disappeared in November 2015. Public missing-person records give November 16, 2015, as his date of last contact. His family formally reported him missing to the Ketchikan Police Department on November 26, ten days after that date.

Hamilton was described as an American Indian or Alaska Native man who stood approximately 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds. He had gray or partially gray hair and brown eyes. Identifying scars were reported on his right forearm, right hand, left cheek and abdomen. He was reportedly wearing a dark hooded jacket, two shirts underneath it and blue jeans when he was last seen.

Conflicting Accounts of His Final Days

One of the difficulties surrounding Hamilton’s disappearance has been the lack of a firmly established public timeline for his final movements.

Police officials told the Juneau Empire in early 2016 that Hamilton’s family could not provide investigators with a clear chronological account of his activities immediately before he vanished. Investigators followed several leads, including reports that Hamilton might have been seen in Sitka or Anchorage, but police said none of those reports could be verified. They also said they had no evidence that Hamilton had left Revillagigedo Island.

Community accounts have added another detail: Hamilton was reportedly seen at a bank shortly before his disappearance. Some awareness posts and a 2016 community letter described him as having been at a bank and suggested he had previously been beaten or robbed. Those details should be treated cautiously because the dates given in community sources differ from the official November 16 last-contact date, and police did not confirm that Hamilton had been assaulted.

Reports That Hamilton May Have Been Assaulted

Ketchikan investigators were aware of rumors that Hamilton appeared to have been beaten before he disappeared.

Police Chief Alan Bengaard told reporters in 2016 that authorities had heard the allegation but could not verify that anyone had actually assaulted Hamilton. No assault had been reported by Hamilton himself, and investigators said no witness could establish who may have attacked him or when an assault supposedly occurred.

That distinction remains important. Public discussion of Hamilton’s case sometimes presents the alleged beating or robbery as established fact, but available law-enforcement reporting does not support that conclusion. It remains an unverified part of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Three Missing Men Raised Concern in Ketchikan

Hamilton’s disappearance occurred during an unusual period in Ketchikan. Police were simultaneously investigating the disappearances of Hamilton, Thomas William Booth and Roy Victor Banhart.

The number of unresolved disappearances prompted concern within the community and speculation that the cases might somehow be connected. Ketchikan police publicly said they had found no evidence connecting the three cases and had no factual basis at the time to declare the disappearances the result of foul play.

More than 100 people attended a January 2016 prayer vigil for missing people in the Ketchikan area. Hamilton’s sister, Bert Hamilton, spoke publicly about the pain of not knowing what had happened to her brother and appealed for information that might finally give the family answers.

Human Remains Found in 2016 Were Not the Resolution to Hamilton’s Case

On May 10, 2016, maintenance workers discovered human remains beneath the E.C. Phillips building at 1775 Tongass Avenue in Ketchikan. Because Hamilton was one of several local men missing at the time, the discovery initially raised the possibility that the remains could belong to one of those unresolved cases. Police sent the remains to the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office for identification.

Subsequent reporting identified the remains as another missing Ketchikan man, Thomas Booth, meaning the discovery did not resolve Hamilton’s disappearance. Hamilton continued to be carried as missing.

Latest Public Information on the Investigation

As of August 2026, there is no publicly announced resolution in Gary Lloyd Hamilton’s disappearance.

The current NamUs record continues to list Hamilton as a missing person under MP66780, with November 16, 2015, as his date of last contact in Ketchikan.

Alaska’s current public missing-person data also continues to include Gary Hamilton, Ketchikan Police Department case 15-7869, with November 16, 2015, as the missing date. The Alaska Missing Persons Clearinghouse states that its public listing is updated daily.

Crime Solvers Central’s public case record was most recently updated on August 6, 2026 and likewise continues to list Hamilton as missing, with the Ketchikan Police Department as the primary agency.

No current public source located for this review announces an arrest, identifies a suspect, confirms Hamilton’s remains have been recovered, or establishes that he was the victim of homicide. The available evidence therefore supports describing this as an unresolved missing-person investigation, rather than a confirmed homicide case.

A 2026 Alaska Department of Public Safety quarterly report on missing Alaska Native and American Indian people should not be interpreted as evidence that Hamilton’s case was removed if his name does not appear there: that particular quarterly report lists only cases investigated by specified agencies, and Ketchikan Police Department is not among the agencies included in that report.

Why Gary Hamilton’s Case Still Matters

Hamilton has now been missing since 2015, and the lack of a confirmed final destination, verified sighting or explanation for his disappearance leaves major unanswered questions.

The investigation began with limited information about Hamilton’s final movements. Reports of sightings in other Alaska communities could not be substantiated, and allegations that he had been beaten before disappearing remained unverified. Investigators also found no evidence linking his disappearance to the other missing-person cases occurring in Ketchikan during the same period.

His case remains publicly searchable through NamUs, Alaska’s missing-person records and several missing-person awareness databases. Anyone with firsthand information about Hamilton’s whereabouts or what happened to him after November 16, 2015, should provide that information directly to law enforcement rather than relying on social-media speculation.