HopeRains
My name is Lisa Coburn Kesler.
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2015
- Messages
- 1,189
- Reaction score
- 2,806
I wasn't able to find a thread - if there is one, please merge. Case is also not on Namus that I can find.
The high school graduation photo of Michael Larson, taken about two years before his disappearance.Provided by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Unsolved: Wisconsin college student went missing in Porcupine Mountains 54 years ago
Around 10:30 a.m. on April 22, 1968, 19-year-old Michael Larson, of Madison, Wis., told his mother he was going out for a haircut, according to a news feature released this week by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. No one ever saw him again.
Larson, a student at the University of Wisconsin, drove away in his green, 1962 Volkswagen sedan. He was wearing green trousers and a black sweatshirt. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, he also took with him a poncho and a map of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He withdrew $650 from his savings account.
Larson’s parents reported him missing two days later, after his abandoned vehicle was discovered by a conservation officer at the Porkies. It was parked on a remote side road at a gravel pit off the South Boundary Road. The license plate was removed, the keys were in the ignition and the gas tank was full.
Larson was described as 6 feet tall, weighing about 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He had never been in trouble with the law. His mother told police he was a top student at the University of Wisconsin, and had “no known illness, no enemies, no family or girlfriend problems.” She also described him as an introvert.
He wasn’t an angler or a hunter, but Larson knew how to read maps and use a compass. He liked to go on backpacking trips and had done so in the Porkies with his brother Tom who was 18 when Larson disappeared. Larson was the eldest of four boys: Tom, Glenn, 15 at the time of disappearance, and Dan, 12.
A photo from 1965 shows Michael Larson outside a cabin with squirrels he'd bagged.Provided by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
By November 1968, nothing had been found to indicate Larson’s whereabouts. The Ontonagon County sheriff asked hunters to be on the lookout for clues. Two days into firearm deer season, a hunter found a boot laying in the woods with a human leg bone protruding from it. The leg was attached to a foot still inside the boot. The hunter reported his discovery. A search conducted the next day turned up the matching boot about 50 yards away along with bones that had been chewed on. Bite marks on the boots appeared to have been from a bear.
The University of Michigan Science Department determined the bones belonged to a white male over 17 years of age. No other details could be determined.
The answer to what happened to Michael Larson awaits discovery or is lost to time.
“My brothers think he may have gone up there and committed suicide,” Tom Larson told the DNR. He doesn’t believe it.
Tom Larson hopes hunters heading into the woods this firearm deer season will be on the lookout for bones or other artifacts that could be compared with his DNA for a positive match. The bones collected in 1968 have gone missing.
Brothers Tom and Dan Larson visit the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in June 2022. (Tom Larson photo)Provided by Tom Larson
During June law enforcement officers and dogs searched the area where the car was found. Tom and Dan Larson also visited the state park in June. In August, officers and cadaver dogs searched the area where the bones were discovered. The efforts found nothing.
The high school graduation photo of Michael Larson, taken about two years before his disappearance.Provided by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Unsolved: Wisconsin college student went missing in Porcupine Mountains 54 years ago
- Updated: Nov. 04, 2022, 12:34 p.m.|
- Published: Nov. 04, 2022, 12:31 p.m
Around 10:30 a.m. on April 22, 1968, 19-year-old Michael Larson, of Madison, Wis., told his mother he was going out for a haircut, according to a news feature released this week by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. No one ever saw him again.
Larson, a student at the University of Wisconsin, drove away in his green, 1962 Volkswagen sedan. He was wearing green trousers and a black sweatshirt. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, he also took with him a poncho and a map of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He withdrew $650 from his savings account.
Larson’s parents reported him missing two days later, after his abandoned vehicle was discovered by a conservation officer at the Porkies. It was parked on a remote side road at a gravel pit off the South Boundary Road. The license plate was removed, the keys were in the ignition and the gas tank was full.
Larson was described as 6 feet tall, weighing about 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He had never been in trouble with the law. His mother told police he was a top student at the University of Wisconsin, and had “no known illness, no enemies, no family or girlfriend problems.” She also described him as an introvert.
He wasn’t an angler or a hunter, but Larson knew how to read maps and use a compass. He liked to go on backpacking trips and had done so in the Porkies with his brother Tom who was 18 when Larson disappeared. Larson was the eldest of four boys: Tom, Glenn, 15 at the time of disappearance, and Dan, 12.
A photo from 1965 shows Michael Larson outside a cabin with squirrels he'd bagged.Provided by Michigan Department of Natural Resources
By November 1968, nothing had been found to indicate Larson’s whereabouts. The Ontonagon County sheriff asked hunters to be on the lookout for clues. Two days into firearm deer season, a hunter found a boot laying in the woods with a human leg bone protruding from it. The leg was attached to a foot still inside the boot. The hunter reported his discovery. A search conducted the next day turned up the matching boot about 50 yards away along with bones that had been chewed on. Bite marks on the boots appeared to have been from a bear.
The University of Michigan Science Department determined the bones belonged to a white male over 17 years of age. No other details could be determined.
The answer to what happened to Michael Larson awaits discovery or is lost to time.
“My brothers think he may have gone up there and committed suicide,” Tom Larson told the DNR. He doesn’t believe it.
Tom Larson hopes hunters heading into the woods this firearm deer season will be on the lookout for bones or other artifacts that could be compared with his DNA for a positive match. The bones collected in 1968 have gone missing.
Brothers Tom and Dan Larson visit the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in June 2022. (Tom Larson photo)Provided by Tom Larson
During June law enforcement officers and dogs searched the area where the car was found. Tom and Dan Larson also visited the state park in June. In August, officers and cadaver dogs searched the area where the bones were discovered. The efforts found nothing.
