Michael A. Sheppard was 35 when he vanished from Perkins Township, Ohio, in spring 2003. The last confirmed contact came in late April when he visited his mother in Milan, Ohio driving a red Ford pickup he said he had just bought. He told her he was going to get license plates and would be back in a couple of days; he never returned.

At the time he had been staying with his mother and stepfather but had recently been asked to leave after his involvement in selling drugs was discovered. Months later his mother began receiving threatening calls from two brothers in Las Vegas who said Michael had stolen thousands of dollars from a drug dealer and demanded to know his whereabouts. That prompted the missing person report.

Family accounts describe longterm drug use and drug-selling since his twenties. Investigators later came to suspect he was killed by drug associates and his remains might be in Huron County. In May 2017 three men were indicted; one, Joshua W. Stamm, later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and said Michael was shot multiple times and buried in the Fox Lane area between Norwalk and Milan. Searches there did not recover a body.

If anyone knew Michael, his movements in spring 2003, or has information about the Fox Lane area searches, please share what is known.