Gordon George Machek was 55 and living in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with his partner of more than 25 years, Jim Johnson, when he vanished after a phone call on October 20, 2001. Johnson had gone to Tampa to check on a house they were building; Machek told him he planned to spend the day with a new, younger friend, 19-year-old Edgardo Eddie Perez, whom he had met at a health club. Johnson could not reach Machek on October 21. On October 22 a credit card charge in Mexico prompted a neighbor to check the house and find Machek gone and his essential eye medication left in the refrigerator.

Police found signs of a violent struggle in the home, including drag marks and bloodstains, and concluded Machek had been murdered in his house, though his body has never been recovered. Investigators focused on Perez, who they say had a pattern of targeting older gay men and allegedly tried to impersonate Machek to a stockbroker after the disappearance. A felony murder warrant for Perez was issued June 11, 2003, and a federal unlawful-flight warrant followed; he remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone who knew Gordon, knew his movements in October 2001, or has information about Edgardo Perez’s whereabouts is asked to come forward.