$10,000 reward offered for missing Rutland man
Toolbox
By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff - Published: January 19, 2006
Family and friends of a Rutland man mysteriously missing for more than eight months are offering a $10,000 reward to help find him.
William "Mike" Hogan, 29, has been missing since May 16, last seen in the area of Spring Lake Ranch in Shrewsbury. Police and family members have been searching for him since that time to no avail.
Now, family and Vermont State Police hope that the offer of a $10,000 reward will rekindle interest in the case and encourage someone who might have information on Hogan's sudden disappearance to come forward.
Family and friends raised the money for the reward. The Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., will determine the reward winner, if any, and pass on all tips generated by the reward to police officials.
The reward will be paid for information leading investigators to the direct location of Hogan.
"We're hoping to develop some new information or encourage somebody to come forward because these people are tired; they want their child back," Monica Caison of the CUE Center for Missing Persons said Wednesday. "This is just one more avenue to help find him."
Caison said she has seen offers of rewards help to solve cases in the past.
"The reward is for the location, to bring us to him and to find him," she said. "With this kind of reward, there are not a lot of strings attached. They just want to find him."
State Police Lt. David Covell added, "I think (reward offers) are effective from the standpoint they generate new interest in the case and it does prompt some people who may not call to call and report potential leads."
Hogan is described as 6 feet tall and about 190 pounds. He has black hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing khaki cargo pants, a red fleece vest, and a light blue and white bandana on his head.
Hogan at one time had lived at the Spring Lake Ranch residential treatment facility as he battled an obsessive-compulsive disorder that left him at times feeling extremely anxious and distressed.
On May 16, as part of his after-care, he went from his apartment in Rutland to the ranch to work. He worked through the morning and then didn't show up for lunch.
He was reported missing to Vermont State Police later that day when he failed to show up to take a bus from the ranch back to Rutland.
According to his family and police, Hogan's condition required that he take up to eight medications daily. He had been experiencing medical problems when he suddenly left work at the ranch on May 16.
Police have conducted several searches of the wooded area around the ranch, but have not turned up any clues.
Hogan did not have a vehicle, but he did have a driver's license. Family members said he left only with the clothes on his back, and his apartment did not appear to be disturbed.
Hogan is from Bel Air, Md., and it is possible he was on his way home to his family when he disappeared.
"People always assume that an adult missing person leaves on their own accord and that there not worth being found," Caison said Wednesday. "What they fail to realize is a lot of these people are handicapped, or confused, or could still be possibly be in danger if they are unsure about their life."
There have been reported sightings of Hogan in downtown Rutland and the Killington area. But police have been unable to confirm those sightings.
The most recent unconfirmed sighting was reported about a month ago.
"We had some possible sightings down in the Green Mountain Plaza area," Covell said Wednesday. "None of those leads developed any new information on the case."
Anyone with information on Hogan is asked to call the CUE Center for Missing Persons' 24-hour hotline at (910) 232-1687 or State Police Detective Sgt. Robert Patten at 773-9101.
Hogan's family and friends have also established a Web site: helpfindmikehogan.org.
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
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