Missing in Michigan: 5 missing-person cases that remain unsolved
LANSING — At any given time there are, officially, an estimated 4,000 people listed as missing in Michigan, but only about 200 of those are considered unsolved cold cases, Michigan State Police Inspector Sarah Krebs said.
When police investigate a missing person case, it's usually resolved within a week, Krebs said. Many of Michigan's missing person reports that are considered cold cases are decades old.
"When you have an adult that goes missing, for one, it's not against the law so there's not even a requirement for law enforcement to take the case," said Krebs, president and founder of Missing in Michigan, a nonprofit that assists the families of missing persons. "There are some cases that we have found through the years that we didn't even know existed because there was no report on file."
Time can be the enemy when police wait to investigate in the days and weeks after someone goes missing, Krebs said, but as years pass it can also help persuade people with knowledge of someone's whereabouts or the circumstances of their disappearance to come forward.
"The longer they go on a lot of times if there were some sort of friendships or bonds that kept people from talking, those also might have diminished with time," she said. "Somebody can come forward years and years later."
And the longer it's been since someone went missing the more crucial it is to keep their case in front of the public, Krebs said.
"If we don't keep these people's cases in the public, likely they will not be solved," she said.
Here's a closer look at five of Michigan's more mysterious missing person cases that date back five years or more.
Rhonda Beers, Lansing
Police suspected "foul play" when Rhonda Beers, 45, of Lansing went missing in May 2001.
"People have routines, and she's broken all of them," Lansing police Lt. Raymond Hall told the Lansing State Journal about Beers' disappearance in July of that year. "She hasn't made contact with anyone."
By then Beers, who was married and a mother to one daughter, had been missing for more than a month. Hall said her sister saw Beers on May 20 near Kalamazoo Street and Clemens Avenue on Lansing's east side. She hadn't told anyone she planned to leave the area, he said.
Beers, who was described as 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and 120 pounds with green eyes, would be 67 years old now.
Lansing Police Det. Shannon Thielen said police have investigated Beers' disappearance in the past two decades, and in 2010 searched Jones Lake off West Sheridan Road in north Lansing in connection with the case.
Beers' disappearance isn't actively being investigated currently, Thielen said. Beers' disappearance is one of seven long-term missing person cases Lansing police haven't solved.
Anyone with information about Beers' disappearance or whereabouts should call Lansing Police Department's Cold Cases Unit at 517-483-7603. Learn more here.
Kevin Graves, Rothbury
It's been five years since Kevin Graves disappeared. He was last seen on July 1, 2018, at Electric Forest, an annual music festival in Rothbury, a small community near the shore of Lake Michigan north of Muskegon.
According to his girlfriend, the then 28-year-old warehouse worker from Highland Township walked away from his campsite around noon that day, said Sgt. David Bach of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.
"They got into an argument, he walked away and was never heard from since," Bach said.
Graves never used his phone after he was reported missing, Bach said, nor accessed funds in his bank account. "His phone died. His credit cards were not used in any way," Bach said.
Michigan State Police conducted a search for Graves and police have followed up on tips and calls they've received concerning Graves in the years since but none of them have been substantial, Bach said.
Plenty of rumors have circulated about Graves' whereabouts, among them that Graves joined a cult, but Bach said there's no credibility to any of them.
"'I've had everything from people send me a picture of a homeless man in Mexico to three months after he went missing someone said they saw him at a strip club in Oregon," he said. "There's no DNA evidence, no proof of a crime scene of any kind. He could have walked away and is now deceased. We don't know."
Graves has a tattoo of red lips on his right hip and a U.S. Marine Corps tattoo on his left shoulder. He would be 33 years old today.
The investigation into Graves' disappearance remains open. Anyone with information should call the Oakland County Sheriff's Office at 248-887-5294. Learn more here.
Glenn (Lenny) Hustin Jr., Middleton
Glenn Hustin Jr., known to most as "Lenny," was last seen on Feb. 5, 2001, in Middleton in southern Gratiot County. He had ridden his bicycle to work at Fulton Country Corners and parked it at the side of the building. He was reported missing less than a week later.
Hustin Jr., 30, disappeared just days before he was scheduled to testify in a court case involving his employer and landlord Roger Eugene Brown, according to an article in the Morning Sun in July 2011. Brown had been charged with larceny of a firearm, a five-year felony. The case against him was later dismissed.
Hustin Jr.'s bike was found about 17 miles away in Ithaca on Feb. 20, just over a week after he was reported missing. His family said his apartment was untouched, stocked with the pop he liked to drink and with a pile of clean laundry by his front door.
“I’d love to have a closing,” Brenda Litwiller, Hustin Jr.'s sister, told the Morning Sun 12 years ago. “And know what happened.”
Over the years police have followed up on tips regarding Hustin Jr.'s whereabouts, said Michigan State Police Det. Sgt. Ben Rowell. Rowell was assigned to continue investigating Hustin Jr.'s disappearance last year.
In the past year, additional police searches have been done in Gratiot County, he said, though he declined to discuss details of the investigation.
"There have been some developments over the last year," Rowell said. "It's still being actively investigated."
Hustin Jr., 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and 115 pounds with brown eyes, would be 53 today.
Anyone with information about Hustin Jr.'s disappearance or whereabouts should call the Michigan State Police at (989) 352-8444. Learn more here.
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Tamala (Nikki) Wells, Detroit
Police said Tamala Wells, known to family and friends as "Nikki," was last seen on Aug. 6, 2012, leaving her home in the 19700 block of Appleton Street in Detroit driving a white four-door Pontiac Grand Prix. She lived with her daughter Nevaeh, then 6, and Nevaeh's father.
Her mother Donna Wells said Nevaeh called her about 6 a.m. the next morning.
"She told me, 'Mommy didn't come home last night,'" said Donna Wells, who lives in Florida.
The car police said Wells was driving when she left home was found in the area of Emery and Coventry streets days later, Detroit Police Sgt. Jordan Hall said in an email.
Tamala, 33 when she went missing and a trained phlebotomist, had been planning to visit Florida later that month, Donna said. She remains skeptical of the details surrounding her disappearance and has advocated for police to actively investigate the case over the years.
"I was taught that God doesn't give you more than you can bear but this is the heaviest, hardest thing that I ever had to do in my life," Donna, 61, said.
In the 11 years since Tamala disappeared police have conducted "several searches" "...from I-75 to John R – 8 Mile to 7 Mile – along with searches near the Appleton house and the Rouge River," Hall said. "This case is still being investigated."
Tamala Wells, between 5 feet, 1 inch tall, and 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and 150 to 180 pounds with brown eyes, would be 44 years old today.
Anyone with information about her disappearance or whereabouts should call the Detroit Police Department at 313-596-1800. Learn more here.
Henry Baltimore Jr., East Lansing
Henry Baltimore Jr. was 21 and one of the first two Black drum majors in Michigan State University's marching band when he went missing in May 1973. His is the oldest missing person cold case in East Lansing.
Almost three months before Henry went missing he was robbed at gunpoint at his apartment in East Lansing. In the police report he filed over a week later Henry named an acquaintance who lived in Flint as the man who had assaulted him, tied him up and stole several items and some cash from his apartment.
Friends and family said in the days and weeks after the report was filed Henry felt threatened. He asked police to drop the charges but officials decided to pursue the case. He disappeared shortly before he was scheduled to testify in court.
Henry would be 71 years old today. Learn more about his case here.
Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Missing in Michigan: 5 missing-person cases that remain unsolved
