Never Quit Looking — Case File
Missing Person
Case ID#: 0449
VICTIM’S PHOTOGRAPH
Missing
Jeremy Theodore Alex
May Also Be Known As: Jeremy Ted Alex
Unidentified Person Notice: In English, unidentified individuals are often known as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe.” This means the victim’s true name is currently unknown.
Biological Sex: Male
Age at the Time: 28
Country: United States of America
Date Missing: April 30, 2004
Brief Overview: Jeremy Alex, 28, vanished in Northport, ME on April 24 or April 30, 2004. Paranoid, he ran into dense woods after fleeing a vehicle containing his phone & keys.
Public Awareness Notice: This case file is provided for public awareness and responsible information sharing. If you have relevant information, please contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.
Victim Description
Physical Description
Date of Birth
April 8, 1976
Age
28
Age Group
20s
Biological Sex
Male
Hair Color
Brunette
Eye Color
Brown
Shoe Size
US Men’s Size 8.5
Ethnicity
Caucasian or White
Nationality
United States
Language(s) Spoken
English
Physical Build
Height (ft’ in”)
5’6″ – 5’7″ (Charlie Project says 5’5 – 5’7)
Height (cm)
167 cm - 170 cm
Weight (lbs)
150 - 155 lbs
Weight (kg)
68 - 73 kg
Distinguishing Features
Medical Condition
Reportedly disoriented, paranoid or hallucinating; public sources also note a history of substance addiction. Sources state that he may have been a binge user who periodically participated in drugs with friends. (Murder She Told)
Other Descriptors
Drug Addiction, Mental Stability Concerns, Smoker
Clothing & Accessories
Clothing
Description
- Olive-green flannel Timberland sweatshirt
- Blue Jeans (Charlie Project says he may have been wearing brown corduroy pants instead)
- Sneakers
Possessions & Accessories
Description
- Red backpack
- Wad of Cash
- Reportedly smoked hand-rolled cigarettes
Description of Events
Disappearance
Date Last Seen
April 24, 2004 (NamUS & Charlie Project say April 24, but the Maine police say April 30)
The Incident
Jeremy Theodore Alex, sometimes listed in records as Jeremy Ted Alex, was born April 8, 1976. He was 28 when he disappeared, having just had a birthday two weeks earlier. He was described as 5’5″ to 5’7″, around 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Friends and family described him as a free spirit. He worked as a freelance gardener and landscaper in Maine and had previously worked for Greenpeace in California. He cared about environmental causes and liked chess, guitar, and reading. His father, Ted Alex, and his father’s wife Susan lived in New Hampshire. Jeremy’s mother and his sister, Nikohl, were also part of his life and were notified once he went missing.
Jeremy had a history of drug use that his family described as periodic, going back to his early twenties. His father later told reporters he knew Jeremy used drugs but didn’t fully grasp how much, and that Jeremy had always managed to get himself off them before. In the fall of 2003, Jeremy was charged with marijuana possession in Searsmont, Maine, a charge that was later dropped.
By early 2004, Jeremy was living in Lincolnville with his girlfriend. They had been together since around 2000 and were in the process of moving into a rental house on Harbor Road in Northport, a coastal town just north of Belfast.
April 24, 2004 was a Saturday, and Jeremy had spent the morning with his girlfriend, moving belongings into their new home in Northport. Sometime that day the two argued, in part over his drug use, and Jeremy left on his own, saying he had an appointment to look at buying a moped. That was the last time she saw him.
At around 5:20 that evening, one of Jeremy’s former high school teachers living on Pound Hill Road near Bluff Road saw a man come running out of the woods behind her house. It took her a moment to place him, since some time had passed, but she recognized him as Jeremy. He was disheveled and clearly panicked, wearing an olive green Timberland sweatshirt, blue jeans or brown corduroy pants, and sneakers, with a red backpack on his back and a wad of cash in his hand. He told her that “bad guys” were trying to hurt him and appeared to be possibly hallucinating. Her husband tried to get him to stay put while she called the police, but Jeremy took off into the woods again before officers reached the scene. A short time later, a passing motorist reported seeing a man matching his description crossing Route 1 nearby.
His van was found abandoned within a day or so, parked in a small gravel lot off Pound Hill Road on land belonging to the Waldo County Humane Society. His keys and his cell phone were still inside. There was no sign of a struggle and no sign of Jeremy.
Once Jeremy was reported missing, police, the Maine Warden Service, and K-9 teams combed the roads and wooded hills around where his van was found, including Bluff Road, Neally Road, Pound Hill Road, and Bay Ridge Road, along with several vacant camps in the area. About a mile east of where the van was parked, the land drops steeply toward Penobscot Bay, and wardens used small aircraft to search that stretch of coastline from the air. The Waldo County Sheriff’s Office led the early investigation. Despite the scale of the search, nothing turned up.
In September 2004, a contractor working on a house in Jackson, Maine, about 45 minutes from Northport, reported seeing a man matching Jeremy’s description come out of the woods with a sweater tied around his waist. The man acted strangely, wouldn’t speak, and didn’t seem to understand anything said to him. When the contractor offered him food, he refused it. A person living nearby separately reported seeing a similar man show up at his garage around the same time, who also wouldn’t answer questions and eventually walked off after being asked to leave. Neither sighting was ever confirmed as Jeremy, though both witnesses were considered credible by investigators.
About two and a half years after Jeremy disappeared, a couple building a house on the shore in Northport started noticing small amounts of cash washing up with the tide, roughly $30 in total over a period of weeks. Not long after, Jeremy’s driver’s license washed up in the same spot. The couple didn’t immediately connect it to the case. They kept the license and the money in a bowl on their coffee table along with other odds and ends that had washed ashore over time.
Years later, after the husband died, a retired highway patrol officer attending a gathering after the funeral noticed the license in that bowl and recognized the name. He contacted Jeremy’s father directly to tell him what had been found. Beyond that discovery, investigators have not turned up any further physical evidence.
Years later, after the husband died, a retired highway patrol officer attending a gathering after the funeral noticed the license in that bowl and recognized the name. He contacted Jeremy’s father directly to tell him what had been found. Beyond that discovery, investigators have not turned up any further physical evidence.
Maine State Police eventually took over the case as the lead agency from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office. As of the most recent public reporting, the case remains open and is officially classified as suspicious.
Jeremy’s family has always maintained that his disappearance involved foul play, pointing out that he had never before gone off without telling anyone where he was going, and that he had the outdoor skills to survive on his own if he’d needed to. They offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to answers in his case, a reward that as of the last public updates had not been claimed.
Multiple Victims?
No
Additional details
Related Vehicle
Description
Unknown Van (located)
Places of Interest
Disappearance
Street Address
On Pound Hill Road near Bluff Road, behind Jeff’s Marine
City
Northport
State or Province
Maine
Country
United States of America
Postal Code (Zip Code)
04849
Latitude & Longitude
44.3478343,-68.9591269
General Location
Town or City
Photo Gallery
Resources
Articles & Other Written Works
- The Charlie Project, “Jeremy Ted Alex”, Link.
- NamUS, “Jeremy Theodore Alex (NamUs #MP98)”, Link
- Walkup, J. (2024) “It’s been 20 years since a midcoast Maine man disappeared,” Bangor Daily News, 30 April, Link.
- Curtis, A. (2011) “TV show to air about Maine man who disappeared in 2004” Bangor Daily News, 6 February, Link.
- Investigation Discovery, “Disappeared,” season episode on Jeremy Alex, aired February 7, 2011.
- Ousfar, E. (2022) “Maine State Police ask for public’s help in solving an 18-year-old case of a missing Northport man”, News Center Maine, 24 April, Link.
- NC Missing Persons, “Jeremy Alex”, Link.
- Murder She Told, “The Disappearance of Jeremy Alex”, Link.
Videos
Contact Authorities
Police, Relevant Agencies, & Other Useful Personnel
Important Notice
This page is not intended for emergency use. Contact details may change over time, and the information listed below may be outdated or incomplete. If you notice an error or have a correction, please let us know.
To the best of our ability, we have provided contact information for the national police agency or, where that is not available, the police agency serving the capital city. Our hope is that these agencies may be able to direct readers to the proper office, even when a matter falls outside their immediate jurisdiction.
For the most accurate guidance, please contact the relevant embassy in your country or your own country’s embassy or consulate in the country involved.
Contact Information — United States of America
Agency 🏢
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Phone Number 📞
Emergency Phone Number 🚨
Website 💻
Email Address 📧
IDD Prefix
011
Country Code
+1
Additional Contacts
- National Crime Information Center (NCIC) — Website
- Crime Stoppers USA — Locate a Program
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) — Website
- National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) — Website
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