Franklin Thomas Gottschalk vanished from his Mason, Michigan, residence on February 2, 1997, one day before his 25th birthday. A Michigan State University English major reportedly three credits short of a degree, he left in his brother’s black-and-red 1977 Oldsmobile Toronado Trofeo without permission and was not seen again.

The vehicle was later found parked near Grand River Avenue and Cedar Street in Lansing, but Franklin was not with it. Two of his bags were recovered by bicyclists on the Shiawassee Street bridge; divers searched the river below without finding further evidence. Several personal items were missing from those bags, including a black leather jacket, his wallet, and a watch his mother had given him. A Detroit Lions coat later turned up in a cornfield near Mason.

The available details form a fractured timeline: an abandoned car in Lansing, bags on a bridge, and a coat in a field, with no clear sequence linking them. If anyone knew Franklin, his routines, or saw him or the Toronado around February 2, 1997, please share what was observed.