MISSING: Brian Vargo

According to the National Institute of Justice, the majority of missing person cases are solved, and the majority of the cases solved bring victims back alive.

In 2012, for example, around 659,000 of the 661,000 missing persons cases reported that year were resolved by the end of the year.

But what happens when cases aren’t solved within a year? Or five years? Ten years?

What happens when a case has been cold for 45 years?

This is the case of Brian Vargo, a young man with a family who maintained that he would come home and a niece who decided to fight for a resolution.

Photo of Brian

Brian celebrating his birthday with family

Brian at his graduation ceremony

A letter Brian wrote after his arrest in the summer of 1975

Age progression photo

Brian’s billboard locations

Photo of digital billboard

Texas

If you have information about the disappearance of Brian Vargo please contact the Austin Police Department’s missing persons unit at 512-974-4123.

Resources

• Researched in part by Haley Gray

• https://charleyproject.org/case/brian-thomas-vargo 

• https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/77718 

• https://www.facebook.com/Searching4BrianVargo/

• https://www.missingpersonsofamerica.com/2021/05/04/brian-vargo-missing-from-austin-since-1976/

• https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/apd-looking-for-man-reported-missing-44-years-after-his-disappearance/

• https://www.austintexas.gov/news/apd-seeks-assistance-missing-persons-investigation 

• https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/n1bffv/austin_man_missing_since_1976_first_reported/ 

• Case documents (Courtesy of Vargo Family)

• The Murder Diaries exclusive interview with Brian’s niece Amanda

• https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/nolo_contendere

• https://www.fox26houston.com/news/the-missing-brian-vargo-vanished-in-1976-his-100-year-old-mother-yearns-for-answers

• https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/lost-not-forgotten-finding-nations-missing