Bolin disappeared from Jefferson County, Missouri on July 8, 1996. His vehicle was discovered abandoned in the parking lot of a car wash located in the 2200 block of north Florissant Avenue in North St. Louis, Missouri on July 9, the day after he was last seen. The keys were inside the vehicle and the driver's side door was wide open. There was no sign of Bolin at the scene. He is a former minister for the Church Of God and at the time of his disappearance was employed as a temporary clerical and computer worker. Bolin has never been heard from again.

In 2001, Corey Lynn Fox was charged with stabbing Don M. Cappel to death in Rosewood Heights, Illinois. While in prison awaiting trial, he also confessed to a number of murders, including Angie Housman, a nine-year-old killed in 1993, and a Missouri governor, Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash in October 2000. Fox also confessed to the murder of Bolin and was charged in that case. However, his multiple confessions were considered an attempt to hinder prosecution and he later recanted them. Fox was ruled out as a suspect in Housman's murder, and police were considering dropping the charges against him in Bolin's case in August 2001.

Some accounts may state that Bolin disappeared on July 10.