I found this Utica Observer-Dispatch article about the 1990 disappearance of Mark William Seelman. It seems he went missing together with another teen, Douglas Goodwin, who has never been found either. I hadn’t had any information about Douglas. The Charley file says he may have gotten into a car driven by an eighteen-year-old black male. Douglas was eighteen in 1990, but from the picture he appears to be white.
I will have to update Mark’s file, and add Douglas’s.
The Charley Project Blog 
The article didn’t mention either one of them being identified as black….at least I didn’t see it. It didn’t mention the car Seelman was seen getting into either. Wonder where that came from? One person in the article says he doesn’t think they ever left the bar. I’m sure someone, somewhere knows something.
First question that came to my mind was what in the world was a 16 yr old doing in a bar drinking in the first place. If I remember correctly 19 became the drinking age around 1984 and then a year or so later it was changed to 21.
The article doesn’t mention race, it was the Charley Project casefile that does.
As for the age thing…there’s a little thing called a fake ID.
In was refering to what you wrote, not the Charley Project casefile.
You said, “Douglas was eighteen in 1990, but from the picture he appears to be white.”
It doesn’t really make any sense so I assumed you meant someone had said he was black.
All I knew, before I saw this article, was that Mark supposedly got into a car with an eighteen-year-old black guy. No info about the black guy. Now I read about Douglas’s disappearance, and I assume Douglas was the guy they’re referring to, but he’s white, not black. Shrug.
I have added Douglas’s case to Charley.
Hi all. Just read all the posts following that article and it sounds like Doug and Mark left in someone else’s car. There is a lot of bickering amongst the posters but no real info that could help resolve the cases.
There had been this article: http://www.uticaod.com/archive/x313677287/Where-are-you-Mark-Seelman
earlier, I think it’s in reference to this that they did a new one about Douglas Goodwin, true that it did make it sound like he had something to do with Mark’s disappearance and as I had read quickly and missed parts I was thinking that was an old perv.; had missed the age, but no that was just a buddy. About a kid himself. That’s good that his disappearance be eventually publicized too.
I really want to know more about this supposed sighting at the bar. Mark was last officially seen by his mother on Friday June 1st and then what? She never saw him again. And apparently he didn’t go to school. Did he go to work? Was Douglas see after June 1st? Who specifically was seen at DJ’s bar on June 7th? Someone (who looked like Mark) getting into a green car with a black guy? Or was it Mark and Douglas both? Because if something actually happened to Mark on the 1st maybe someone wanted to throw us off by claiming this sighting on the 7th. How credible is this sighting?????
his mother last saw him after school on Friday June 8th. He told her he was going out shopping with his friends and he would be home later Saturday June 9th to help her around the house. She didn’t think anything of it when he didn’t show figuring he was continuing to stay with a friend since it was the weekend. When mon and tues came and he didn’t get off the bus, she reported him missing on Tues the 12th. so the timeline is …he comes home from school, supposedly took off to go shopping with friends, then was spotted that same Friday night at Djs bar in Rome by one witness, the witness says they both left in a late 70s model nova or chevy Malibu with an African American male supposedly heading to Utica.
fact police found his ID with some guy in Missouri-was a big lead Police failed to really pursue. What the heck was this person whoever he was doing with Mark’s ID? Where did this person get it-or find it? Duh! It could lead to where mark was-and maybe killed? I do not believe he is alive-likely whoever’s car he got into-killed him and disposed of him and his id. Maybe the black male was alos the one who had his id in Missouri?
No one is really investigating this case seriously enough-and sadly-family is not getting closure needed becasue of it!
I wish the investigators would have taken this case more seriously in the beginning. They have only one witness who spotted them at DJS Bar. You would think more then one person who have spotted the both of them together at the bar that night, They said that they got into a car with an African American male. So, how did they get to the bar that night? Who brought them there? Who was supposed to give them a ride home since Remsen and Utica are too far of a distance to walk and it would have been ridiculously expensive to catch a cab or bus from Utica to Rome. Remsen has no bus route to Rome. Rome is a very small, I hesitate to even call it a city, but that is what it was and is classified as. So how did these two get from their homes, then come together, and get to that bar. Why would a kid who was going shopping, leave his wallet and cigs behind. If they were indeed at that bar how did they pay for drinks? In Rome back then, there were a lot of bars that let 16 year olds drink in them. A lot of them looked the other way. It wasn’t difficult at all to go to a bar at 16. When did Douglas’s girlfriend kick him out? When was the last time she say him? Mark said he was going shopping with friends. Who were the friends? Since it’s plural you would think more then one other person was going with them. If you were going to run away, you would take your wallet, cigs, and some clothes with you at 16. They say Douglas was a transient but what that means up here for an 18year old is that you hop from couch to couch at friends houses where their parents will let you spend the night. So after his girlfriend told him to leave where did Douglas go and how did he get there? They also worked at a farm together. Did anyone ask the farmer about their behavior before their disappearance or when the last time they worked was. Is his mom sure that mark couldn’t have snuck back in Friday night before going out to change clothes and accidently left his wallet or cigs. Or could he have come back during Sat if she wasn’t home and grab stuff to spend more days with his friends. You would think Mark would have dressed up if he was going out. Why didn’t he wear his new shoes? and once again , why not take your wallet? Why do Douglas’s parents refuse to talk to media or file a missing persons report on him? I don’t care if I was on the outs with my son or daughter, if they went missing I couldn’t just look the other way and let it go. I would call everyone I could think of to find out if they were ok. Even if I suspected they ran away, I would have still talked to their friends or anyone that would listen to make sure they were at least okay.