Overview

Last known location: San Francisco, California.
Last-seen/contact date: Official California records list October 15, 1973; other case information identifies October 1, 1973 as his final known contact with family.

Main circumstances: Martin called his mother from San Francisco and reportedly told her he intended to return home to Live Oak, California. He never returned and was never heard from again. No publicly documented evidence establishes what happened after that call. His case remains listed as missing.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Martin Keith Burleson Missing Person Case: Disappearance from San Francisco, California in 1973

Martin Keith Burleson disappeared from San Francisco, California, in October 1973 after telling his mother that he intended to return home to Live Oak. More than five decades later, there is still no publicly documented explanation for what happened to him, and California authorities continue to list him as a missing person.

The Disappearance of Martin Keith Burleson

Martin Keith Burleson was born October 9, 1950. He was a white male with brown hair and blue eyes, approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds. California records also associate him with the alias David Bartholemew, while another source gives the similar alias Martin Bartholemew.

The central fact in Martin’s disappearance is a telephone call to his mother. According to the available account, Martin called her from San Francisco and said that he planned to move back home to Live Oak, California. He was never heard from again.

Very little has been made public about what Martin was doing in San Francisco, where specifically he was when he made the call, whether anyone saw him afterward, how he planned to travel to Live Oak, or whether he had transportation, money or belongings with him.

When Was Martin Burleson Last Seen?

There is a significant discrepancy in the publicly available records concerning Martin’s disappearance date.

The California Department of Justice currently lists Martin’s date last seen as October 15, 1973.

The Charley Project, however, lists him as missing since October 1, 1973, stating that Martin called his mother on that date and told her he was going to move home to Live Oak.

A detailed case review published in 2025 reports that the NamUs record lists October 15, 1973 as the official date of last contact but describes the last family contact in the circumstances section as October 1.

Because of this conflict, October 1973 in San Francisco is the most reliable way to describe the known timeframe without presenting a disputed date as settled fact.

What Happened Before Martin Disappeared?

Martin’s final known communication provides one of the few clues in the case.

He reportedly contacted his mother from San Francisco and indicated that he planned to return to the family home in Live Oak, a community north of Sacramento in Sutter County. Martin apparently never completed that planned return trip.

No publicly available account establishes whether Martin left San Francisco, what route he might have taken, or whether he arranged transportation. There is also no publicly documented evidence establishing that he was the victim of a homicide.

His case therefore remains a missing-person investigation, and theories about foul play, an accident, voluntary disappearance or another explanation should not be presented as established fact.

Why Was the Case Reported Decades Later?

One of the unusual features of Martin’s case is the long gap between his 1973 disappearance and the dates associated with modern missing-person databases.

A 2025 review of the NamUs information reports that Martin was formally reported missing on September 15, 2004. His NamUs case, MP28749, was subsequently created on May 18, 2015.

The reason for the decades-long gap is not explained in the publicly available case summaries reviewed for this article. It should therefore not be assumed that Martin’s family did nothing to search for him during those years; the available online records simply do not provide enough information to establish the complete history of the original report or investigation.

Identification Information

Martin had brown hair and blue eyes and stood approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall at a weight of about 150 pounds. California’s missing-person record says dental X-rays are not available.

More recent information attributed to his NamUs record states that fingerprints and DNA are available for comparison, providing investigators with potentially valuable tools for comparing Martin with unidentified-person cases.

That review also reported that the NamUs case contained 32 unidentified-person exclusions, meaning numerous unidentified-person cases had been compared or otherwise ruled out as Martin. An exclusion is not evidence explaining what happened to him; it simply means the particular unidentified person was determined not to be Martin.

Latest Publicly Available Investigation Information

Martin Keith Burleson’s disappearance remains listed in the California Department of Justice Missing Persons database, where the San Francisco Police Department is identified as the reporting agency. The state listing gives case number 041056355 and telephone number (415) 558-5508.

A more recent review of the NamUs record reports that MP28749 was last updated January 12, 2024. The same review states that Martin’s DNA and fingerprints are available and that 32 unidentified-person exclusions had been recorded.

The Doe Network’s archived updates also show that Martin was added to that organization’s missing-person records in January 2024.

As of the latest publicly accessible records located for this article, there has been no publicly announced resolution, confirmed sighting, identification of Martin’s remains, arrest, or determination of what happened to him. The California Department of Justice continues to publish him as missing.

The San Francisco Police Department states that its Special Victims Unit is responsible for missing-person investigations and currently directs people with information about a missing person to its non-emergency number, (415) 553-0123.

The Questions That Remain

The passage of more than 50 years has left Martin’s case with fundamental unanswered questions. Did he ever leave San Francisco? Did he begin the approximately northbound journey toward Live Oak? Did someone see him after his final family contact? And what accounts for the conflicting October 1 and October 15 dates in modern records?

The availability of DNA and fingerprints is particularly important in a decades-old case because those records allow comparisons with unidentified remains that may not have been identifiable when Martin first disappeared.

For now, however, Martin Keith Burleson remains missing. Anyone with information that could help establish his movements in October 1973—or identify what happened to him afterward—should provide that information to law enforcement.