Michael Keith Gorley, 38, left his mother’s home in Stanford, Kentucky on a spring day in 2015 saying he was going to a friend’s house and was not seen again. Later that day his Ford Explorer was found partially submerged in a pond on Wilderness Trail Road but Michael was not in the vehicle.

Friends at a residence on Knob Lick Road said he left that house on foot between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m., reportedly heading toward Junction City about two miles away; the homeowner later told Michael’s mother he was still at the residence when she called around 11:00 p.m. The next morning Michael’s shoes and hat were found on the porch of the friend’s house; his mother says he would not have left without shoes. Those items were preserved by the family and collected by investigators several months later when a new detective was assigned.

Michael had been released from jail five days before his disappearance after a grand jury did not indict him on drug-trafficking charges, a fact his family cites among reasons they suspect foul play by people he knew. The case remains open; anyone with information about Michael’s movements that night is asked to come forward.