Gabriel Thor Crow, 27, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a noted rivercane basketry artisan, was last seen on January 27, 2024, near Starnes Cove Road and Yosemite Trail in West Asheville. The day before, his mother had dropped him off to rent a car. On the afternoon he vanished a Buncombe County sheriff’s deputy found that rented car abandoned in a field with its doors open and then located Gabriel walking nearby.

According to the deputy, Gabriel appeared distressed and said he had been visiting a friend and learned unsettling information that made him want to leave. He told the deputy he believed something might have been put in his car and that his friend had thrown the car keys into the field. The deputy offered him a ride to a gas station; Gabriel declined and chose to walk. That walk is the last confirmed sighting.

His family reported him missing the next day. The Asheville Police Department is leading an active investigation; searches expanded in April 2024 to a large grid search of Spivey Mountain involving more than 120 personnel, K9s and drones, but no evidence of his whereabouts was found. The disappearance remains unresolved.

If anyone knew Gabriel, his movements that day, or saw him after he left the deputy, please share what you know with investigators.