@Rocky Road - just wanted to say thinking of you and all Mike's friends and family. While you might have expected this news some day it must still be a huge blow to everyone who knew him. Hope you're doing ok.
Thank you for this. Mike was extremely smart. He was valedictorian of his high school class, graduated with honors with a BS in Chemistry from the University of Tennessee, and rather than going to medical school as he originally had plans to do, he joined the Air Force, having learned to fly in his hometown. He flew for the USAF for 10 years, flying many dangerous missions during the Gulf War and humanitarian relief in Bosnia, delivering food, medicine, and supplies to the people. Mike wanted to serve his country and he did so honorably. He was an excellent pilot. He received commendations, and safety awards, his last being UPS's highest safety award just before his leave of absence for his last surgeries.Mike was an athlete all of his life, loving and excelling in sports of all kinds. He was a survivor, and he was certainly capable of surviving even Big Frog Wilderness, which he hiked and camped when he was in East Tennessee. I have heard about him hiking mountains in many other mountainous areas of our country and even when stationed in Germany. Quite the accomplishment. He was frugal, and a financial genius, having studied the market and becoming a successful investor. He enjoyed this, and we expected that when his professional flying days were over, he would become a stock broker or financial planner. My husband often discussed this with Mike, and Mike seemed very interested in doing this some day. Mike was not perfect, as none of us are, but he was a great kid and a really good man. He loved his family and he loved his child. Mike was very disciplined, as most successful people are, and his neighbors have commented that he was early to rise and it was common to see him walking/hiking the trails, early in the mornings. He was a jogger before his back surgeries, but became a walker afterwards because his doctors advised him not to pound the pavement anymore. He told me this personally when we discussed his surgery and his rehab last Fall. The morning of his "disappearance", I have to wonder if Mike awakened early, maybe earlier than usual, in the shower as his wife noted at 3:30, subsequently got dressed in his shorts, black tee, black hiking/walking boots, wearing his wedding band, put his phone, wallet, and keys in his pocket as he always did, grabbed a bite of breakfast while he watched the morning stock channels, surfed the financial pages on the internet, then as dawn crept up, he decided to hit the trails for his morning hike, before anyone else in the house had awakened. So many different things could have happened from that point forward. He could have been confronted at his doorstep. He could have gotten to the trail and been jumped along the way by someone who wanted him gone. He could have been walking and had a massive heart attack, and being alone on the trail wound up in the brush before he died. He could have been murdered by an unknown assailant because Mike would have tried to fight off a mugger, I'm guessing. He could have been hit by a drunk driver on the road in his neighborhood and the driver moved him to hide his body. So many things could have happened, and not knowing is so difficult, but for his parents and sister, and eventually his small child someday, this is a hell they could have never imagined could happen in their family and to their son that they were so so proud of all his life. He was their child and brother first in life, and they have loved him always. But what makes this entire case even more heartbreaking than can be imagined, is the ineptitude of LE, who was not the least bit objective in this case from the very beginning, and had no sense of urgency in searching for Mike. Additionally, the initial actions by Mike's wife delayed a search for him, the ex-police officer friend's involvement that occurred before the LMPD was contacted and her search of Mike's belongings, the initial statements to police that Mike somehow did something wrong although he was the victim of something whether a health emergency or foul play, the continued lack of concern for Mike's parents who are 80 yrs old and who have made numerous trips from South East Tennessee to Louisville trying to find someone that would help them find their missing son, the rudeness of different officers and detectives along the way toward Mike's parents because they let their bias stand in the way, and the total lack of search by LE. If they searched 3 times in that wooded area less than a mile from Mike's house, and had dogs, then they have done the poorest job imaginable and their dog's are pretty much worthless. Frankly, I doubt they did more than a cursory glance. We know from neighbors that the initial search last only a half day. Also, the initial search was 3 weeks after Mike "disappeared". There should have been grid searches so that someone could have tripped over his body, if not be alerted by the dogs. Many offers were made to help search, many people, several organizations, yet police refused to allow this. Whether nonfeasance or misfeasance, either is awful and in my opinion, at least one applies throughout this case. Only once the case became cold did the new detectives take all this seriously and began to look closer. In the end, it took a neighborhood dog to find Mike, because the LE could not get the job done. I'm not sure if the problem has been total apathy, poor communication, corruption, or a combination of many issues, but the outcome for Mike may have been different, at least with regards to finding his body, if someone of LE had taken a dedicated interest in finding Mike. I find it difficult to believe that everyone in the LMPD is apathetic, and there must surely be some wonderful officers, but unfortunately, there was little cooperation or even kindness from most of the people involved in this case. We have to wonder why they would not ask for help from state or federal LE, when they had been so unsuccessful and family was asking for this. If LMPD is so overburdened, why not allow the help from outside? Something happened to Mike, and the hope is that the toxicology report and medical examiner will have enough remaining to find something that gives a cause of death or a physical reason for Mike's death. Yes, it is a huge blow to everyone who knew and loved Mike, and as if it all just happened altogether.
Any information not substantiated by previous reports, can be considered my opinion only.
