Gerald Lee Pollard Jr., 48, vanished from Person County, North Carolina, in the winter of 2013. A self-employed mechanic, he was last seen in the front yard of his automotive shop sometime in January. Thirty hours later his wife reported him missing after he failed to make contact; she said it was not entirely out of character for him to be out of touch briefly, but days and then months passed with no sign of Pollard or explanation.

The case went cold for years until November 2017, when investigators arrested Pollard’s brother-in-law, Scott Gerald Sykora, on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping based on a tip from a confidential informant. Pollard’s body had not been found. Prosecutors voluntarily dismissed the charges in August 2019, citing lack of forensic evidence and concerns about the credibility of the lone witness; the dismissal was without prejudice. The suspect later died in February 2020. The disappearance of Gerald Pollard Jr. remains unsolved.

Did anyone in Person County know Pollard’s routines, customers, or where he might have gone after leaving his shop in January 2013?