The Disappearance of Earl Lee Dannels, Fall 1969

Earl Lee Dannels, 19, was in his junior year at UC Berkeley and lived in Albany, Alameda County, CA at the time of his disappearance. He did not attend classes starting the week of Monday, November 3, 1969 and has not been heard from since. 

However, his DLC on NamUs is Wednesday, October 1, 1969, and Charley Project states that he was last seen on that day in Albany. It is unclear which of these dates is the actual date of his disappearance. According to NamUs, Earl was reported missing on Monday, November 10, 1969.

According to Whereabouts Still Unknown, "[Earl] left nearly $400 behind in bank accounts, which is now listed in the California Unclaimed Property database, which shows his residence as 939 Solano, Apt. 5 in Albany."

Earl Dannels. Photo from CA DOJ.

At the time of his disappearance, Earl was 19 years old, 5'9, and 150 lbs. He is a white male with blue eyes and short brown hair. His birthday is October 8, 1949. If alive today he would be 75 years old.

Earl's mother had died the year prior to his disappearance. On November 13, 1969, his family placed a personal ad in the SF Examiner stating, "EARL Dannels where are you, contact Dad or us, Betty and Jerry." Earl had five siblings, including the "Betty" mentioned in the above ad; Jerry is the name of Betty's husband.

There are very few details available in Earl's case. He has zero UID rule-outs on NamUs. The availability of his DNA, dentals, and fingerprints for comparison is unknown. 

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Albany Police Department at (510) 525-7300. The agency case number is 19-996.

Sources

NamUs 

Charley Project 

Doe Network 

CA DOJ 

WebSleuths 

Whereabouts Still Unknown blog 

Note: I regularly revisit cases, fix any typos or formatting errors, check for updates, ensure that I have exhausted all sources, etc. This write-up was last updated on September 11, 2025.