Stauffer was last seen on August 24, 2007. He and his fiancee, Karen Dodds, were on a plane en route to Bad Axe, Michigan when they crashed in the Straits of Mackinac near Bois Blanc Island at 1:30 p.m. A photo of Dodds is posted below this case summary. Her body and some reckage from the plane was recovered in October 2007. Stauffer's remains have never been found in spite of an extensive search.

Both Stauffer and Dodds lived in Washington D.C. in 2007. Stauffer graduated high school at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, got an architecture degree from the Catholic University of America and authored several technical books as well as one children's novel. He left behind three children.

Above: Karen Dodds