To this day, no trace of Oscar has ever been found despite a large number of searchers scouring the area where his car was found in the next county.

For the Moes’ son and daughter-in-law, Lynn and Maureen Moe and their family, who live on the Moe farm, it was a “time of much wondering and worrying.”

Maureen said there was no school that day so she and the kids went to Minot. Lynn was working.

When the family members got home that evening Oscar and Evelyn Moe were not there. They learned that Oscar had taken Evelyn to Watford City to the clinic and then she was admitted to the hospital.

MDN File Photo Oscar Moe’s car, shown in this April 1991 Minot Daily News photo, was found in a swampy terrain near Trenton Lake about a week after he went missing. Many searchers combed the area but he was never located.

As soon as they discovered Oscar was missing, they contacted the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office and family members also started searching for Oscar but were unsuccessful in locating him. There were reports he was seen driving in Watford City, Arnegard and Alexander.

The sheriff’s office received a report from a farmer near Dore who had spotted a man driving back and forth in a field. The farmer said the man asked for directions to Watford City. Paul Larson, then McKenzie County sheriff, told The Minot Daily News, according to a 1991 story, that the description of the man fit that of Oscar Moe. The farmer claimed the man understood his directions and he (Oscar) took off again.

“Evidently, he made it as far as the highway and took a wrong turn again,” Maureen said in an April 10, 1991, story published in The Minot Daily News.

It was the last day anyone reported sighting anyone fitting Oscar’s description.

About a week later, his car, a Plymouth Horizon, was found by some horseback riders along a road by Trenton Lake in Williams County.

Robert Stancel, Williams County detective, said, in an April 6, 1991, Minot Daily News story, that the car was in an area with high brush and grass located along a road in a remote area, which is lowland and close to Trenton Lake.

When Oscar’s car was found, a search effort was quickly organized. Searchers, including law enforcement members, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, family members and neighbors, and community volunteers combed the area southwest of Trenton by air and on the ground. Horses, a helicopter, four-wheel all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles were used in the search. Some searchers also checked out a part of eastern Montana.

“It was a big search party,” Maureen said, recalling those days.

Search efforts continued over the next days but to no avail.

“We’ve searched some places as many as five times,” then Williams County Sheriff Stan Lyson told The Minot Daily News in an April 1991 story. “We’ve completely exhausted this area.” He said they just didn’t know where to go anymore.

A week later, the searchers regrouped and discussed alternative plans in their continued search for Moe. A search dog and handler from Billings, Mont., arrived to join in the search.

But Oscar Moe was never found.

Family members and others who knew Oscar Moe as well as the many who searched for him will always wonder what happened to him.

“We do think it about it, especially at this time of the year,” said Maureen.