Claude and his wife, Martha Sue Shelton, were last seen in Corbin, Kentucky on May 21, 1971. They put their three children to bed at their home in Gerry's Trailer Park on 18th Street, then drove away in their white 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 with Kentucky license plates numbered 937 944. Photographs of the vehicle are posted below this case summary. The Sheltons may have been en route to the Kings truck stop five miles away, but no one remembers seeing them that night. They have never been heard from again and their car has never been recovered. Approximately $600 in cash may have also vanished from their home at the same time they did.

Claude had been steadily employed for ten years prior to his disappearance. It would be uncharacteristic of him and Sue to abandon their children, who were subsequently raised by their grandmother. Foul play is suspected in Claude and Sue's disappearances, which remain unsolved.

Above: 1967 Ford Galaxie