For Elizabeth White, February 14, 1947 would be a most memorable Valentine's Day.
Her husband Eugene was missing.
Police found his blood-stained car parked close to his place of employment. There was a bloody tire iron in the back seat alongside gifts for his wife. Foul play was suspected. Police were treating this as a robbery-murder and were searching for a body.
Missing from their Woodland Hills, California home, however, was a suitcase and some of Eugene's clothing. Hmm..
Twelve days passed before Eugene telephoned Elizabeth to say that he was okay. He had simply felt it would be better for her and the children if he'd left. Then he invited her up to his current location, Seattle, for a visit.
When pressed for an explanation, Eugene said that while it's true he was having trouble adjusting to civilian life after the war, despite staying stateside throughout, he revealed that just prior to his disappearance, he'd received a threatening telephone call from an anonymous source who referenced his knowledge of a prohibition-era bootlegging transaction. He realized later that it might have been a prank but at the time it seemed very real. He never did explain where the blood came from.
Eugene told Elizabeth and the police that he wasn't coming home any time soon. He'd keep in touch but wanted to do a little fishing first.
It looks like things worked out for the Whites though. They had 2 children at the time of his disappearance and 5 by the time Eugene died in 1995 at the age of 79.
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