Dunson's son, Gary Adams, reported him missing on June 5, 1998. He said they were shopping together at Findlay Market on Elder Street in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati at about 2:00 p.m. when Adams stepped into a butcher shop for a moment to purchase steaks, and when he came back out Dunson was gone. Dunson was carrying a black leather wallet with about fifteen dollars in it when he disappeared. He may also have been carrying a lottery ticket; a clerk at Cee Kay Beauty Supply in Findlay Market remembers selling one to a man matching Dunson's description. Other people at Findlay Market also recall seeing an elderly man that day, but he appeared to be at least twenty years younger than Dunson.

Investigators believe that Adams's version of events is fictitious and Dunson actually died years, perhaps over a decade, before his alleged disappearance. Neighbors of Adams, who lives in the 5700 block of Wyatt Avenue, don't recall seeing an elderly man living with him, and Dunson's adult grandson says he's never met his grandfather. He lived in the room that was supposed to be Dunson's, but had never even heard of the man.

Dunson's driver's license expired in the 1970s and has not been renewed. The most recent photo of him that authorities were able to find was from 1973. He visited Cincinnati's University Hospital three times in 1980 for the treatment of a mild stroke, but not has not been there since then. He has not seen a doctor, made an insurance claim, had any prescriptions filled, held a bank account, voted, or owned a library card since about 1980. Dunson used to frequent the Elder Cafe but no one has seen him there since about 1980. He sometimes stayed at the Drop Inn Center, a local homeless shelter, in 1979 and 1980, but no one has seen him there in many years and residents of the shelter do not recognize the composite picture of Dunson as he is supposed to have looked in 1998. Dunson once belonged to the Calvary Baptist Church in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati. He was an usher there, but none of the other church members recall seeing him since at least 1983.

When confronted with this evidence, Adams stated that Dunson does not believe in doctors or banks and that is why the paper trail for him stopped in 1980. He described his father as a quiet, reclusive man who only goes outside during the nighttime, because he had the latest shift throughout his working career and was used to sleeping during the day. Adams also stated Dunson kept to himself in part because he afraid the family would get in trouble with their landlord for having too many tenants, but Adams's landlord says there are no restrictions on how many people can live in the home.

Dunson was reported missing four days after the Social Security Administration (SSA) sent a letter to his and Adams's residence. The letter requested that Dunson meet with an SSA representative in person to verify his identity. Dunson has been drawing a pension and Social Security benefits since 1970 and the SSA was doing a routine procedure which they do for all elderly recipients, to make sure he was still alive and receiving the payments and no one else was impersonating him to cash the checks. Authorities believe Adams had been co-signing his dead father's checks and depositing them into his own account for years under the pretense that Dunson was still alive. The amount of money over the years totaled over $100,000.

Adams was convicted on twenty-five counts of theft in the spring of 1999, for stealing over $21,000 from Dunson's Social Security benefits. He was acquitted of twenty-five counts of forgery. He has never been criminally charged in connection with his father's disappearance and police say that, unless they find Dunson's remains, the case is likely to end with the theft convictions.

Dunson is believed to have been born in Marietta, Georgia. He is a World War I veteran who worked at the now-defunct Oberhelman-Ritter iron foundry on Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati, which he retired from in 1970. He never legally married, but has eight or nine children. Dunson's case remains unsolved; he is presumed deceased.