James Lewis Perryman, 28, was last seen at Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino in Primm, Nevada, on the evening of May 3, 2002. Perryman, a former U.S. Army Ranger trained as an airport firefighter who had most recently worked as a firefighter and air/sea rescue specialist in the Marshall Islands, was traveling from Las Vegas toward Huntington Beach, California, to visit a friend before a planned move to a new job in Guam; he reportedly got a late start and decided to spend the night in Primm. He was described as 5'11", 140–160 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, a light complexion, a tattoo of the letter "X" on each shoulder blade, a Leo zodiac tattoo on his right calf, and three older scars on the inside of his forearms. He was last known to be wearing a T-shirt, blue jeans, white socks, and black boots, and may have been carrying a black attaché case, a wallet, and a .38- or .45-caliber Sig Sauer pistol. Some of his belongings, including clothing and a backpack, were later found inside his hotel room. Three days later, on May 6, 2002, his car was found abandoned along Interstate 15 at the Halloran Summit exit, roughly 25 miles from Primm and 75 miles from Las Vegas, with no sign of Perryman at the scene; an empty gun case, a gun lock, a partially used box of ammunition, and a bag containing his birth certificate, firefighter certification, and payroll stubs were found inside, but the pistol itself was never recovered.
The case was initially handled by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Missing Persons unit and has since been reassigned to its Homicide section; the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is also involved because Perryman's vehicle was recovered in California. Investigators in both jurisdictions have told his family they do not believe his disappearance was a suicide, although no suspect has been identified and the case remains unsolved. His remains have not been located, and a family DNA reference sample is on file with the FBI for comparison against unidentified remains.
