DATE: Tuesday, August 5, 1997               TAG: 9708040195

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   65 lines

PHONE CALL REIGNITES LONG SEARCH FOR MISSING SAILOR

Just as the trail of missing Coast Guard gunner's mate Martin R. Ryan has grown cold, investigators have received what they consider to be their hottest tip to date.

Ryan, now 29, was last seen about 11 a.m. on Jan. 24, 1996, lying on the couch in his Chesapeake apartment, watching a video. Then he was gone.

For 19 months, the Coast Guard has investigated Ryan's disappearance as a possible desertion. His mother suspects foul play. His wife, Diana, just thinks he walked out on her and their young son David.

On May 21, days after a story in The Virginian-Pilot updated developments since Ryan's disappearance, someone called the bank where he has an account. The caller identified himself as Ryan.

``He knew a lot of personal information that the average person on the street wouldn't know,'' said Joe Fahey, a special agent with the Coast Guard investigative service.

The teller who took the call for Guardian Federal Credit Union in Portsmouth saw a flag on the account when she accessed the records, and kept the caller on the line. The teller thought she recognized the voice of the male caller, who claimed he was calling from Peoria or Phoenix.

She kept the man talking for about 15 minutes. But then, another employee at the bank yelled across the room that authorities had been called. The man on the telephone immediately hung up.

Was it really Ryan calling?

``It ticks me off if it was, because that means he's still out there and we're not hitting the right doors,'' Fahey said. ``But it could have been. It's the hottest lead we've had.''

A check of the credit union's 800 phone line showed only a call from a customer in the western part of Arizona. The mystery caller must have used the regular phone line, Fahey said, but federal authorities were not helpful in allowing him to get the phone records that might help pinpoint the origin of the call.

Fahey said the mysterious call apparently came from a city located in Arizona, where the Coast Guard found its last deserter.

Recently, Coast Guard officials caught a deserter missing for seven or eight years, through employment records. The man, who had made taunting phone calls to a supervisor, was living in Arizona under the name William Kid - perhaps mocking Billy the Kid.

Fahey said deserters usually are located, and quickly. About 95 percent are tracked down within a week, he said.

If Ryan were to be located, he would likely face a dishonorable discharge and possible prison time.

In Ryan's case, he was first noticed missing after he failed to report to the cutter Harriet Lane, which was scheduled to sail two days later. His wife, Diana Ryan, called Chesapeake police on Jan. 27 to report him missing.

Investigators found his truck, with the keys in the ignition, parked outside the family's apartment on Stilworken Drive in the Dunedin Apartments.

His two wallets - with driver's license, credit cards and his military ID - were in the apartment.

Ryan's wife noticed a few things missing: a red Schwinn mountain bike worth about $800, a black duffel bag, a .45-caliber automatic handgun, and a favorite blanket Ryan had bought while in the Air Force in Germany, Fahey said.

Investigators had no obvious reason to suspect foul play, since there was no evidence of violence. They were simply investigating a missing person report. MEMO: Anyone with information about Ryan can call the Fifth Coast Guard

District at (757) 398-6231. A reward of up to $3,000 is being offered.

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