Paul Whipkey Pt. One

suffered a mental breakdown and wandered into the desert and died. However, Whitpkey's family discovers troubling discrepancies to make them believe the Army staged his disappearance, possibly because he was recruited for a secret mission. In nineteen eighty two, the Army officially changes Whipkey's status from deserter to die in the line of duty, but he's never found and the full truth about what actually happened to him remains unknown.

involved and orchestrated some sort of cover up. Well, quite frankly, I feel that some of these segments had an overly conspiratle tone, and that Unsolved Mysteries had a tendency to exaggerate certain details to make the cases seem more mysterious

than they really were. However, the disappearance of Paul Whipkey, a first lieutenant serving in the United States Army, is a pretty bizarre story, and I think there are enough odd details to suggest that the military knew a lot more than they were letting on at the time he vanished. Lieutenant Whipkey was stationed at Fort Orton, California, before he left the base one day and went absent without leave.

When Whipkey's abandoned car was discovered in Death Valley over one month later, the Army believed that he simply wandered out into the desert and died, but there is compelling evidence to suggest that someone else may have planted the car there. Whipkey's family has always clung to two potential theories.

The Army either recruited Whipkey for a top secret mission where they staged his disappearance to cover up their culpability in assigning him to work on Operation plumb Bob, a series of atomic tests which may have caused a severe nos get an impact on Whipkey's physical and mental health. So we're going to explore all different possibilities in today's episode.

accountable in both scenarios. What I find really interesting here, though, is that they do change the classification for him from a wall or deserter to died in align a duty. I think there's something to be said about that that, you know, a family would think of. My loved one is classified as a wall that they just abandoned their position in the military, which is one of the most degrading, horrible things you could do, is to desert your posts.

And somehow in nineteen eighty two they change it to died in the line of duty. So do you know more about that why they changed the classification.

So that gives off the impression that the military knew a lot more about what happened to them, but unfortunately kept his family in the dark.

then infiltrate this gang in Mexico because they're somehow orchestrating these attacks on America like they had kidnapped a senator.

Find it really interesting that we're going to get to explore this a little bit deeper, and we're also really lucky to have Ashley on this case because her father was a marine and Ashley spent time as a professor at the Citadel, so she's military adjacent and she's one of the best people when it comes to opinions on institutions, So I'm really excited to hear your takes Ash.

So I can't wait to hear more about what happens to Paul and these missions that they could have sent him on, because in my gut, I'm feeling like the Army feels some accountability or that classification just would not have changed.

as an officer. After completing basic training in nineteen fifty four, Whipkey began aviation school and eventually earned his Army's pilot wings. In July nineteen fifty six. He would be posted at Fort Ord, located in California's Monterey County, and achieved the rank of first lieutenant. After nearly two years there, he was assigned the duties of company commander. On the afternoon of July tenth, Whickey left Fort Ord in his nineteen

fifty six red and white Chevrolet. He told his friends that he was planning to get a drink in the town of Monterey, which was located less than a mile away from the base. However, Whipkey never returned to the base, and when he failed to surface by morning, he was declared absent without leave aka a WALL. After thirty days past, Whipkey had still not turned up, so the Army officially declared him a deserter, But the case would take a

bizarre turn only one week later. On August seventeenth, over a month after he originally went missing, Whipkey's abandoned Chevrolet was discovered by a fishing game warden in a remote section of Death Valley. The desolate location is nearly five hundred miles east from Fort Ord, forty two miles from the nearest town, and fifteen miles from the main road. The Keys were still in the ignition and a suitcase containing some of whip Key's personal belongings and his military

dog tags was found inside the vehicle. Well, there are no obvious signs of a struggle or foul play. Whippi himself was nowhere to be found.

This is not some enlisted kid who comes in. This is someone who's making a career out of the military, and so for him to quote a wall, it really is a fascinating scenario because he has such heavy steak in the military. He has a clout and position and so for him to go all the way through to become a pilot and then just to abandon the military

does seem quite odd. Of course, when mental health is to play, that can always be something that doesn't quote make sense or doesn't really follow the normal script of how people behave. But this is the fifties, and so at the time, how much would we have known and how many signs would you have picked up on if

he was in fact struggling with mental health. So I'll be interested to hear more about that, but very odd, given again that he has worked so diligently to achieve so much in the military, and it goes to do what a lot of military men and women do. They go off to have a drink and hang out with friends when they're not at their posts.

this could have been the source of it. But overall, it sounds like it would have been bury out of character for him to just desert his post and then just drive away, and the fact that his vehicle was found five hundred miles away from the base in pretty much the hottest climate in the United States is particularly unusual. Investigators attempted to attrack Whipkey's movements after he left ford

Or on July to tenth. It turned out that later that same day, Whipkey had apparently driven over three hundred miles to Mojave, as his signature was on the guest registry of a local establishment called White's Motel. A receipt was found in Whipkey's car which showed that he purchased fourteen gallons of gasoline in Mojave on July the eleventh, and the spot where the Chevrolet was abandoned was approximately

one hundred and forty five miles from this location. The Army concluded that Whipke likely suffered some sort of mental breakdown pause due to the added stress of becoming a company commander, and this prompted him to drive nearly five hundred miles to an isolated area and Death Valley. He subsequently watered out into the desert and succumbed to the extreme heat, which could reach temperatures of up to one

hundred and twenty degrees fahrenheit in July. The army believed that the shifting sands of the desert would make it nearly impossible to recover Whipkey's body, but oddly they never even made an attempt to search for his body until nine months after his car was found. This was just one of the many reasons that Whipkey's family became suspicious about the official cover story.

can search for his body. Do you know what extent they actually went out and had publicity that they have a soldier who's a.

his story to the press. But prior to that, his disappearance didn't get any publicity at all.

days after he originally went missing. Karl learned that a pair of soldiers had collected all of Paul's personal belongings from miss Barracks the previous day, right after he was declared a wall Even though Paul would not officially be declared a deserter for thirty more days, his belongings were subsequently packed into eleven wooden crates and sent to his family. According to Karl, this was against army regulations, as a soldier's next of kin or legal representative are supposed to

be notified before their belongings are packed up. When Paul's car was discovered one month later, Carl only learned about it by accident. He had made an unofficial call to an enlisted man at Fort Ord, who subsequently phoned him a half hour later. The soldier told Karl that Paul's vehicle had been discovered in Death Valley, but asked Karl not to tell anyone where he'd heard this because it was classified information. There were more odd details about the

circumstances of how Paul's car was found. Four weeks after he originally went missing, a rancher reported seeing a red and white Chevrolet driving through Death Valley, about twelve miles from the spot that it was eventually discovered. However, he claimed that the driver was dressed in a military uniform, but Paul had been dressed in civilian clothing when he left board Or. In addition, a pile of cigarette butts was found outside the car in the desert, even though Paul did not smoke.

after he went missing, everything's packed up. What if he came back and had been in a car accident or you know, they found him in a hospital somewhere, then why was all this stuff packed up?

was known as Operation Plumbbob. During this time period, a total of twenty nine explosions, all of but two of which were nuclear wound up being set off. Paul's duties included flying an observation plane and relaying radio messages to and from ground troops advancing on ground zero. His list of assignments showed that he had logged thirteen hours of flying time and witness to total of five atomic tess the largest of which was a forty four kiloton blast.

Carl Whipkey would later speak to his brother's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lewis, who said he noticed a number of troubling changes with Paul following his assignment at Camp Desert Rock, which may have stemmed from exposure to radioactive fallout. Upon returning to Fort Ord, Paul noticed that some unusual blotches started appearing on his skin, as well as black

moles on his body and warts on his hands. He started suffering from constant colds and losing weight, and things reached the point where Paul needed to have all of his teeth removed before he was fitted with dentures. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis also said that Paul's personality changed as he became more nervous and withdrawn and had trouble delegating authority

in his new role as company commander. Much like Carl, Lewis was also troubled by the circumstances of Paul's disappearance, but claimed that when he attempted to make further inquiries, he was always advised to drop the matter because the case was closed.

are concerned. Remember his brother, Carl served in the military, and he's talking to his brother's commanding officer saying something's wrong, and that commanding officer standing up for Paul, saying, right, there's a reason why he's a leader. There's a reason he's been put in charge of these other soldiers, and

yet he's failing to delegate. He's failing to behave the way we all know he behaves, and so he's going to bat for Paul and saying, he' all got to explain to me what happened, and no one wants to talk to, even the commanding officer. So there's a big problem there. This is his subordinate that he's checking on. He has a family member who's inquiring, but he himself is inquiring and he still can't get information. It's very, very suspicious.

I can't even imagine. And it would be so difficult if you weren't able to express your emotions or to be able to talk about what you did with your family because the information was classified. Like my heart breaks for him having to experience that.

And I'm sure that costed some awful thoughts to go in his head because this is the fifties and nuclear testing has only been around for just over a decade or so, and they just probably do not understand or they don't care about the negative physical and mental effects hes could have on the soldiers who are involved, who don't have adequate protection, And this would eventually skyrocket into a scandal with a massive lawsuit from all the people

who were forced to participate in Operation plumb Bob and did not get protection and started suffering from health issues. And it is just a shame that Paul suffered through all this, but he never really got to receive justice because he went missing and was no longer around when this lawsuit became a big story.

same two men return to the airfield. They conversed with Whikey two or three times per week, and Whikey always appeared to be nervous and uptight afterwards. Whenever Lewis asked Whitkey if there was anything wrong, Whipkey always assured him that everything was fine, but never discussed his conversations with the two men. Louis would later express his beliefs that

these men had been affiliated with the CIA. During this time period, the CIA would often recruit servicemen to assist them on classified, top secret assignments, and Lewis felt that Wikey's excellent service record would have made him a promising candidate for them. Lewis's story prompted Carl Whitkey to remember our conversation he had with his brother in January of nineteen fifty eight, where Paul told Carl that he was going on assignment in which he would quote make a

name for himself. But before Paul could share any more details, he told Carl that there were some officers near his desk, so he couldn't say anything else, and this was the only time Carl ever heard about this subject before Paul disappeared. This caused Carl to theorize that his brother might have been recruited into some sort of joint Army CIA program. If so, it provided a possible explanation for Paul's decision

to stop at White's motel in Mojave. Edward's Air Force base was located nearby, so perhaps Paul met up with the CIA contacts at the motel, who subsequently flew him out of the country on some sort of secret mission. They also may have held on to Paul's Chevrolet until, for unknown reasons, they decided to abandon it in Death Valley and fabricated cover story about Paul wandering out into the desert.

And I know Jules was talking about the show Linus having a similar plot line, So does this kind of sound something like that where they practically destroy someone's reputation to make it look like they're a deserter, but they think it's for the greater good because their assignment is so important.

a pilot in one of Whipkey's closest friends. They had both been stationed together at Camp Desert Rock, but while there, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis claimed he saw Guests get interviewed on at least one occasion by the same two men who frequently converse with Whipkey. On the morning of July to twenty second, nineteen fifty eight, just twelve days after Whipkey originally went missing, Guest took off from Bishop, California in an L nineteen reconnaissance plane in order to perform a

topographic survey for the Army. He was supposed to land in Winnemucca, Nevada, but the plane never arrived and an extensive search failed to turn up any trace of them. However, in September of nineteen fifty nine, a pair of deer hunters spotted wreckage from a crashed plane on the west slope of wh Mountain in Inyo National Forest, located about thirty five miles northeast of Bishop Skeletal remains, which were

identified as belonging to guests were found nearby. On the surface, this seemed like a tragic accident, but there was one problem. The plane's wreckage apparently had a different serial number than the plane guests had taken off. In the fact that Guess and Whipkey had both been involved in atomic testing at Camp Desert Rock and happened to go missing less than two weeks apart led to speculation that there might be a connection between the two cases.

and or end up deceased shortly after. Definitely raises the hair on your neck and makes you say, what happened? Who were these men? What were these kids involved? And they were just young soldiers at the time, and did it lead to death or are these cover ups because these two men proved to be soldiers that could handle

a bigger operation. It's very, very, very bizarre, and coincidence is possible, but it also does open up this door to say, hey, it sounds crazy, but could both men be involved in a disappearance or death?

them by a dental records. So theoretically, if they wanted to fake his death, they could just like say, hey, he crashed into this forest and died in a plane crash and we found these remains. But if they wanted to stage it, they could just toss out some parts with a different serial number in order to fake the whole thing.

serial numbers were different? Like could they have got the serial numbers on the plane that he took off in wrong.

planting the remains or something like that. They would just say, oh, he crashed and was never found. And it doesn't sound like Charles's guests had like the same service record as Paul Whikey where it would be worth faking his death in order to send him on some sort of secret mission.

what happened to his brother. In June nineteen seventy seven, Carl sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI, asking them to turn over all information they had about Paul's disappearance. The following year, the FBI answered Carl and informed him that they had destroyed fourteen boxes containing field files about the case six months after they received his request.

In spite of this, Carl still managed to accumulate nearly three thousand pages of government documents, affidavits, and transcripts which were related to his brother. He noticed some more odd discrepancies, such as the fact that the list of Paul's assignments from the Army made no mention of his three month stint at Camp Desert Rock. Karl also uncovered one document which stated that his brother had once used the alias

Paul B. Whipper, though no additional explanation was provided. One of Carl's goals was to change Paul's official status with the Army so that he could no longer be classified as a deserter. Carl's persistence finally paid off in April of nineteen eighty two, when he successfully lobbied the Army Board of Correction to Military Records to undertake a new review of his brother's case. The board held a three year hearing and concluded there was no evidence to support

Paul's status as a deserter. Their final report stated that his unauthorized absence was excused as unavoidable and that his death was incurred in the line of duty, not due to his own misconduct. As a result, Paul's status was officially changed. She died in the line of duty, and the Army Adjudged General's Office issued a certificate of honorable service in his name.

they changed it. Not that we had anything to do with it, but that obviously he was struggling so significantly that he had to have all of his teeth removed because they were all falling out, and he was losing weight, and he had sores on his skin and moles growing on his skin that were unexplainable. Clearly, we affected this man significantly. He paid for his service with his life, the livelihood that he had and so I'm wondering if

that alone would allow them to change the classification. Even if they think Paul quote voluntarily left, they would say, hey, well, because what we put him through probably led to that. Were they really covering their bases there and saying our exposure and what we put him through would have resulted in this for many of people. And therefore in the eighties they say enough's enough. He didn't desert the military. He clearly gave so much that we're going to change his classification.

you'll be fine, which is obviously not true. So they were looking at these reports now with more advanced eyes and thinking, wow, we really kind of screwed this guy over by putting him in this testing without a new protection, and they don't want to flat out admit that, but it's kind of the interesting wording the way that they said that his absence was unavoidable and his death was incurred in the line of duty, not to his own misconduct,

So it's almost like an admission without actually admitting that our nuclear testing cat changes in Paul's behavior and could have led to him driving out into the middle of nowhere and dying. So technically will say that he died in the line of duty without actually admitting it. So, like we said, it is kind of a bittersweet victory for the family because Paul is no longer classified as a deserter, but they still don't exactly have conclusive answers

about what actually happened to him and why he's still missing. However, even though the board concluded that Whipley likely died the day after he disappeared from ford Ord, they still never provided any official explanation about what actually happened to him.

While their official reporting knowledge that Whipkey had been assigned to Camp Desert Rock in nineteen fifty seven, they denied he was ever involved in atomic testing, even though this duty had been specified on the list of assignments which were accidentally shipped to Whipkey's family with his personal belongings. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Lewis had testified on Whipkey's behalf at the three day hearing, but claimed that he ran into

some issues. A short time later an audit from the IRS, Lewis also received a phone call from a man identifying himself as an agent from the Department of Defense, who asked a number of questions about the Whipkey case, But when Lewis contacted the DoD later on, they maintained that none of their agents had ever phoned him, so Lewis

never found out who the caller really was. This story would be featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, which aired in April of nineteen ninety one and featured interviews with Lewis and Carl Whipkey. Carl hoped that someone who had been stationed with Paul at Fort Ord might remember something and come forward with new information, but this never took place, so after more than sixty four years, Paul Whipkey is still a missing person, and his disappearance continues

to remain shrouded in mystery. So I guess you could say the path wait Chili.

never recovered a body. Where is he? It really does leave those open ended questions, just like a missing child would do, or a missing family member under any other circumstances. Is he still alive? You know, did mental health cause him to wander off, but that he didn't know where he was or who he was, or you know, doesn't understand who is what his identity is at the time, or did he go on a CIA mission and had

to change his name and go into witness protection. Your mind would wander so much that it would be devastating to say, what if he's still alive and he didn't call me. What if he missed our parents' funerals or birthdays or Christmas or the birth of my child and he's alive somewhere, and what if he's dead and alone and no one ever found him. So to me, this change of classification, it's incredible in the fact that he's no longer disgraced our military because he gave his life

for his service. He fought to become a pilot, he fought to become a leader in his squadron, and things like that, and so you clearly know the military was important to him and he really did get exposed to things that why they denied it, I don't know why it wasn't in his records, I don't know. But everyone's aware that he served time with these nuclear testing sites and he paid for it with his physical health. So when you look at it, I want to know where

he is. You want the family to have that body to lay at rest. You want them to be able to say, this is exactly what happened to him. We know for a fact, you know he's deceased or he's alive, And unfortunately they're just not going to get that. This was in the fifties, in the eighties they made significant progress, but we're talking about twenty twenty four now in a case,

like Robin said, didn't receive a lot of attention. It's really frustrating as much as it's rewarding that they changed the status, it's frustrating.

But that never happened, and I think the chances of anyone who knew Paul being still alive in twenty twenty four are very remote, So I don't know if his family will ever receive conclusive answers, But it is frustrating because there are signs that he could have had a mental breakdown and just drove out into Death Valley and wandered off and died of the severe heat. But he also checked into a motel when he left the base, so it seemed like he had some sort of purpose,

that he had a reason for being there. And there's a good reason to think that the army knew an awful lot, knew a lot more than they were letting on, and just refused to share with Paul's family. And I remember Carl Whipkey's on Saw Mysteries interview. He said that I will if we find out that Paul Lot died in the line of duty while serving his country on

some sort of secret mission. That's okay, Well, accept that we like the idea of knowing that Paul died a hero like helping his country, but to not know is just so frustrating. And even if they don't want to tell us the details, at least confirm if he's dead or alive. So this would be a good time to bring an end to part one. So join us next week as we present part two of our series about the disappearance of Paul Whipkey.

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