Missing From: Dugway, Utah
Missing: May 8, 2011
Age at Disappearance: 26
Height: 5′ 9″
Weight: 190
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian male. Joseph’s hair was in a buzz cut at the time of his disappearance. He has an appendectomy scar on his abdomen and a scar from gallbladder surgery. He has the following tattoos: an American flag on his right shoulder, a Celtic design on his neck, the words “Jeremy 88-00” on the left side of his chest, and a tribal design extending from his left shoulder down to his elbow. The tribal design tattoo is posted below this case summary.
Details of Disappearance: Joseph a soldier, was assigned to Fort Collins, Colorado and stationed at the Army base in Dugway, Utah in May 2011. He left the English Village area early in the morning on May 8 and drove out into the desert in a borrowed black 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer.
At 7:00 p.m., he called a friend in Dugway and left a message, saying he’d run out of gas and was going to try to walk back to the Dugway Proving Ground. He said he was very cold, he’d lost his flip-flops and was using his shirt as footwear, it was raining and he needed help. This was the last contact with him; he never arrived back in Dugway and has never been heard from again.
Six days later, Bushling’s vehicle was found abandoned in a deep ravine off a gravel road in a very isolated area 64 miles from Dugway’s main gate. Some of Bushling’s belongings were inside the vehicle, but there weren’t any clues to indicate his whereabouts. The keys were missing.
Two days later, Bushling’s Arkansas Razorbacks hat was located in the desert six miles from the car. Searchers also found his flip-flops. The terrain where he disappeared is rough and desolate, with lots of caves, and cellular phone reception is poor to nonexistent. Dugway had once served as a chemical weapons testing facility and there are caches of munitions concealed in the desert around the base.
Investigative Agency: Tooele County Sheriff’s Office 435-882-5600 / Dugway Police Department 435-831-2929
If you have any information on this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.