Eugene was last seen between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. He was preparing to start delivering his morning newspaper route at the time. Witnesses saw Eugene talking to a man between 5:00 and 5:15 a.m. at southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive. The man is described as clean-cut, and he appeared to be in his thirties. He has never been identified. A paper bag was found outside of Des Moines with papers still inside. He has a scar on his right knee and one of his wrists has a healed fracture. He was last seen wearing a gray and white striped midriff t-shirt with red sleeves, blue jeans and blue Trax sneakers with white diagonal stripes. Eugene disappeared from the same vicinity where John Gosch was last seen in 1982. It is not known if the two cases are related, but both boys were newspaper carriers in the Des Moines area.