KUNZ, Donald Harold

KUNZ, Donald Harold (1928-1950), young man who disappeared from a u-drive boat rented at Avalon Bay in 1950. It appears to have been a suicide.

In the News~

October 11, 1950 [LAT]: “Man who rented boat vanished is sea puzzle. Discovery of an abandoned U-drive boat five miles off Long Point, Santa Catalina Island yesterday presented island authorities with their second mysterious vanishing on a man at sea. Yesterday's victim was identified as Donald Harold Kunz, 23, of 1434 W. 97th St., who rented the boat, an 18-foot runabout, from Vic Lytle, concession owners, at 10 a.m. Monday , supposedly to go fishing. The boat was found by the yacht Hi-de-Ho, owned and operated by J.A. Simpson, 2105-½ Redondo Beach. The boat's anchor and 14 feet of line were missing. In the boat were found a corduroy jacket, three $1 bills and a half a package of cigarettes. Dep. Sheriff Kera McDavid, constable of the Santa Catalina Township, ascertained that Junz had been a guest of the Westbrook Hotel and that the man had left three letters, one to his mother, Mrs. A. Kunz, of the 97th St. address; another to Miss Phyllis Reinert, 8731 Ruthelen St., and the third to Claude Jarrett, 10709 S. Figueroa St. The letters were unsealed. The letter to the mother said that the writer was "sorry I have to do this to you." The letter to Miss Reinert expressed Kunz's love for her. The note to Jarrett enclosed $10 and said that "maybe this will pay part of the rent due." The previous sea mystery involved Theodore Donay, 51, convicted wartime traitor, who vanished in April, after engaging a boat from Lytle.”