Here's more detail: Brian and his friend, David, had taken LSD this night, and were listening to music at their friend's home in Salem. When my sister and her friend returned from a party, David said he was freaking out, and he left the home. David's sister told Brian to go after him.
Brian, being a good friend, followed David out of the house. The Volkswagen bug was David's car, and they took off in this. The police picked David up around 5:00 am. He had broken into a car dealership and was racing down State St in the stolen car.
He said that he had been having a bad trip and thought he was in hell. So sometime between 2 am and 5 am my brother disappeared. He was driving the Volkswagen.
He was a good kid, and always let my mom know when he was going to be late. He also watched out for his siblings and friends. He may have e+perimented with drugs, but that was common for this time. It did not make him a bad kid, or make him irresponsible. He was a wonderful brother, and even though I was the oldest, he would look out for me.
I know that David was hypnotized to see if he could remember what happened to Brian, but it was not successful. My dad was always convinced that David had something to do with his disappearance, but I don't know that this is true. I do know that the police were judgmental and not at all sympathetic or helpful. They considered him to be just another runaway, and would not help my family. My mother (now deceased) would always break into tears when talking about the policeman who came to take the report. The lack of police response allowed my brother's disappearance to slip into oblivion.
I did go to see a psychic who worked with the police, and she said he was driving away from Salem and trying to sober up. She said the car skidded on ice and went into Detroit Lake. This lake does dry up quite a bit in summer, and I don't know how deep it is behind the dam. I'm sure it's possible, but with all the fishing and water sports on this lake, it seems something would have turned up by now. It is still heartbreaking when I think of Brian's disappearance. I just wish we knew what happened to him.
I checked into the Portland police cold cases, but his name's not listed there. It appears you have to have a body to be considered murdered or dead. If you're missing, you do not have a voice.
