FOX19 Crime Vault: What happened to Ronald Tammen?

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - Miami University sophomore Ronald Tammen walked out of his dorm room at Fisher Hall on April 19, 1953. He has not been seen since, and his disappearance remains a mystery.

Tammen was described as an all-American kid. A sophomore RA, he played string bass in the Campus Owls, the university dance band. He also belonged to Delta Tau Delta fraternity and was a member of the wrestling team.

The dean’s list student reportedly left his dorm room around 8 p.m. to get new bedsheets from the hall manager because someone had put a fish in his bed.

Tammen took the sheets and returned to his dorm room to study psychology.

It was the last time he was seen alive.

At 10:30 p.m., Tammen’s roommate returned to find Tammen’s textbook laying open on his desk and all the room lights on. The radio was still playing. Tammen had left his keys and wallet.

To this day, Ronald Tammen’s fate remains unknown. Some believe he was murdered; others feel he might still be alive.

“The Ron Tammen story is the single most important cold case of a missing student at Miami University,” Miami University Historian Stephen Gordon said. “He mysteriously and suddenly disappeared from 225 Fisher Hall. Nobody has ever solved the case.”

There was a massive initial search for Tammen in a three-mile radius around campus. Students, the ROTC, police and the FBI participated.

One witness claimed Tammen, dazed and unable to remember his name, came to her Seven Mile home early on the morning of April 20 seeking directions to the nearest bus stop.

The woman failed to report the incident to the police until she saw Tammen’s picture in the newspaper describing his disappearance.

In 1973, the Butler County Coroner revealed that Tammen had visited his office, seeking a blood test, five months to the day before his disappearance.

Fisher Hall was demolished in 1978. Construction crews conducted an extensive search of the rubble, but there were no signs of Tammen’s remains.

Today the question remains, what happened to Ronald Tammen?

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