On the final day of July 1985, 36-year-old Michel Paul was last seen in Essex, New York, when he and another man, Pierre Petit, left the Essex Marina in a small dinghy and went out onto Lake Champlain. Pierre Petit’s body was recovered on August 6, 1985; the cause of death was listed as freshwater drowning. Extensive searches of the lake and shoreline for Michel Paul followed, but no trace of him was ever found.

Authorities and family have long treated the case as unresolved. New York State Police keep the file open and state their prevailing view is that Paul likely drowned in the same incident that killed Petit, but his remains have not been recovered and there is no definitive evidence explaining what happened on the dinghy that day.

If anyone saw those men on Lake Champlain in late July 1985, or has information about Michel Paul’s last movements, please come forward.