Gentry was last seen at his Sacramento, California residence at approximately 3:00 p.m. on July 20, 1986. He received a phone call from a woman, changed his clothes, and left the house to meet her. He never returned. His mother reported him missing six days after his disappearance. By then, the police had already gotten an anonymous tip that he had been shot.

In 1989, Gentry's best friend, Joseph Allen Stanley, was charged with his murder. When he was interviewed by detectives in 1986, Stanley had claimed he was forced at gunpoint to lure Gentry from his home, and he witnessed Gentry's shooting death by an unknown individual off Prairie City Road in Sacramento.

In 1989, Christina Rose Allen told investigators that Stanley told her he had shot Gentry in the chest shortly after his disappearance. Allen was 17 years old at the time of Gentry's alleged murder. She had initially lied to authorities and claimed she knew nothing about Gentry's case; she says she did this because she was afraid of Stanley and was still in love with him, and because she was afraid she would also be charged in Gentry's case. Allen subsequently failed a polygraph test and stopped cooperating with the investigation until 1989, when she came forward with her information.

Stanley was tried twice for Gentry's murder in 1990. Both times the jury could not reach a verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. After the second trial, authorities elected not to prosecute Stanley again. Gentry's remains had never been found.

Above: Gentry's pendant