Family Finds Closure After OSBI Identifies Victim In 33-Year-Old Cold Case

A family has finally received closure, 33 years after a brother disappeared.

A lab in Texas identified remains found in Caddo County as Alvin Stark.

Stark’s sister, Rebecca Fowler, said she never lost hope she would find her brother. Fowler is sad she will never see him again, but the news bright her some peace as the family plans to lay him to rest.

“He was a pretty nice guy. He was quiet, very quiet,” Fowler said.

Stark planned to go fishing with family back in May 1988 but never showed.

“I went over to his house and his doors were looked,” Fowler said. “He wasn’t there. I said, ‘I’ll go back Saturday.’ Wasn’t there. I went back Sunday. He wasn’t there. He never showed up to go fishing with my husband and never called.”

The Chickasha Police Department, with the help of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, looked into the case for years. They sent human remains found in 2019 in Caddo County to the University of North Texas in Denton for tests.

“We get requested by a lot of agencies because we have the budget, and we have the manpower to put people and resources behind cases. We have the latest equipment at the lab to process things,” OSBI public information officer Brook Arbeitman said.

Thirty-three years since Stark's disappearance, Fowler finally received closure.

“It is kind of a relief in a way because we know that he is with us now, but it is also kind of a sad situation because we never get to see him again,” Fowler said.

“No one ever gave up on trying to find Alvin Stark,” Arbeitman said. “The most important thing is being able to return him to his family. Let them properly bury him and have a place to go to be with him instead of just wondering where he is.”

OSBI said the suspect in the cold case is dead. The agency is currently working about 400 cold cases.