Herman Arbas, a reclusive dairy farmer who ran a 384-acre farm in Laurens, New York, vanished after a last confirmed sighting on October 27, 2000, though some records list a last contact date of March 15, 2003. He was not officially reported missing until May 2005, a delay linked to his sporadic contact with his five children. Tensions in the family preceded his disappearance: Herman divorced in 1996 and was running the farm with his son Matthew, who sued for co-ownership in August 2000.

Herman reportedly believed he was being watched by the FBI, a condition his brother suggested might reflect mental illness, and Herman had a lawyer appointment the day after his last confirmed sighting that Matthew later cancelled. Matthew told neighbors their father had become a truck driver, a claim police found false; he later forged Herman’s signatures, stole about $60,000 from his accounts, was convicted on multiple forgery counts and a separate violent crime in Virginia, and has been named a person of interest but not charged in the disappearance. The New York State Police searched the farm with K-9s, divers, and helicopters and found no trace.

Did anyone in the Laurens area know Herman’s routines or see him after October 27, 2000?