Michael’s Friend
Appearances
20/20
The Lies Beneath
It made it alarming. It gave me chills. Everything that had been happening for the last two and a half years was likely a lie.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He was there at the tractor show, and then the next week, he was gone. And there was nothing in between. It was just gone.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
I know that he went home and that they were trying to work things out. He had quite a few ducks and they were staying with the chickens in the chicken coop and he wanted them to have their own duck pond.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
Oh, it was really hot that day. They do show three or four times a year during the winter months. It's just a bunch of antique tractors, and it's like a flea market. Mike was really into that stuff. He really liked that old stuff.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
She just wouldn't make eye contact with us. She wouldn't speak with us, and it was It was kind of weird because she was usually more bubbly than that. And then he says, hey, I got to go. So they left.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He had texted me on Monday that he was going to have to quit his job to save his marriage. So I just kind of backed out of it. I just left him alone. So when he didn't show up Tuesday, I didn't think nothing of it. It's just, well, he's got some problems. They'll work it out. Then Wednesday he didn't come, and Thursday he didn't come.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
Lori answers the door, asks where Mike is at. And she said, he's not home. And I said, well, what do you mean he ain't here? And I said, well, his car's here. And his car was in the driveway. So she said, he's not here.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
Mike never told me he wanted to go to Georgia. He had never spoken about wanting to leave, leave the state, leave the marriage, any of that. I thought he was happy here, and we were doing so well, and then I said, huh. What an idiot. I felt like that was the wrong thing to do, you know, let's just walk away.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
And when I was texting with him, he says, I'm never coming back. I just wasn't answering his phone, never coming back.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He didn't want to be found. He wanted to be left alone. He was not coming back. He had abandoned his family and he was gone.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
I had to rethink and re-question myself. Everything that had been happening was likely a lie.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
I turned on the news, and that's when I hit that he's actually missing, that it's not good.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He was there at the tractor show and then the next week he was gone and there was nothing in between.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
I mean, I consider Mike my best friend. It's pretty tough knowing that he's laying in the dirt like that.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
They had chickens and guineas and turkeys and quite a few ducks, and he wanted them to have their own duck pond.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
When the manager contacted Mike, Mike's response was, you can go ahead and fire me, I'm not coming back.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He was here one moment, gone the next. There's no goodbye. There's no I'll talk to you later. There's no nothing. He was gone.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
He was here one moment, gone the next. There's no goodbye, there's no I'll talk to you later, there's no nothing. He was gone.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
Lori acted like everything was fine. She was all smiles, and he was all smiles, and they covered it up pretty good.
20/20
The Lies Beneath
Mike was staying in the airplane hangar where the precious metals plane was. I just figured it was for a day or two. And then later on, I learned that he'd been down there, you know, for a week or even more.