10-12-2026 7:49am

Billboards revive search for Marine veteran missing since 2017

Chris Edwards Editor

ALAMOGORDO — More than nine years after Wade Dean Taylor walked into the desert north of the Otero County Detention Center, his family is putting his face back in front of the community, this time on two digital billboards in Alamogordo.

The campaign launched Oct. 1 on the Rock 97.9 digital billboard at 2114 N. Scenic Drive. A second display begins today, Oct. 12, on the Landmark billboard at 1101 10th St.

Taylor, a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran who served a tour in Afghanistan, was last seen in the early morning hours of May 6, 2017.

According to his family, Taylor came to the detention center on his own. He was visibly injured and wearing only his underwear. He asked staff for water and a pair of sandals and told them someone was chasing him. Staff gave him water, and he reportedly walked north out of the facility's sally port into the surrounding desert.

He has not been seen since.

The Alamogordo Police Department and Taylor's family have searched extensively across Otero County without finding him. Investigators suspect foul play, and unnamed persons of interest remain part of the active investigation, the family said.

For his sister, Crystal Taylor, the years have not made the loss easier.

"Living with the ambiguous loss of Wade is an unimaginable weight to carry as a sibling and for our family," she said. "It has been 9 painful years of an empty chair during the holidays, unresolved grief and a continuous search for answers."

She said the family keeps asking the same questions every day: Where is Wade, and what happened on May 6, 2017?

Taylor is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 265 pounds, with black hair and hazel eyes. He has distinctive tattoos: a Marine Corps emblem on his left arm, a dragon on his arm and a Grim Reaper on his forearm.

His case is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as NamUs MP #40810.

The family hopes the billboards will reach someone who knows something, even a detail that seemed minor at the time.

"Wade still matters," the family said in its release. "His story still matters. And our search for him is not over."

How to help

Anyone with information about Taylor's whereabouts or the events leading up to his disappearance is asked to call the Alamogordo Police Department at 575-439-4300 or submit a tip to Otero County Crime Stoppers at 575-295-9990.

The family can be reached at whereiswadedeantaylor@gmail.com.