Michael Edwin Hearon, 51, was last seen on the morning of Saturday, August 23, 2008, leaving his Maryville condominium for his 100-acre family farm in the remote Happy Valley area of Tallassee. He told his two sons he planned to mow the lawn and stopped to pick up a lawnmower before heading to the property. Neighbors saw him around 11:00 a.m. riding a green Yamaha Wolverine ATV and waving; that was the last confirmed sighting.

When his sons checked the farm on Monday, August 25, Michael’s truck was parked at the driveway end with its windows down and his keys, cell phone, wallet with cash and credit cards, and his gun still inside. The mower was still on the trailer and the grass uncut. The ATV was missing; it was found on Tuesday, August 26 pushed into thick brush on a steep hill about a mile from the home, left in high gear with the ignition switch on, in an area his sons said he rarely used. Despite extensive repeated searches over the years, no trace of Michael has been found. His family believes he is not alive, but the whereabouts and circumstances of his disappearance remain unknown.

Did anyone who spent time in Happy Valley or the Bell Branch Road area in August 2008 see Michael or his ATV that weekend?