Missing man's family celebrates birthday
Toolbox
By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff - Published: November 6, 2006
For the second consecutive year, Michael "William" Hogan will be missing from his own birthday celebration held at his favorite restaurant.
His family will be at an Italian-style eatery in his hometown of Bel Air, Md., to mark Hogan's 30th birthday, hoping someday they will find him.
Hogan disappeared May 16, 2005, when he mysteriously went missing in the area of Spring Lake Ranch in Cuttingsville.
Since that time, police and his family have scoured the woods searching for Hogan, and his family has traveled as far away as Ventura, Calif., to check out reported sightings.
Hogan's family marked his 29th birthday last year by coming together and going to Bertucci's, his favorite restaurant. They plan to do the same Thursday to mark Hogan's 30th birthday, according to Hogan's father, also named Michael Hogan.
In addition, Hogan's family will start the day by attending a special Mass in the morning at St. Margaret's Church in Bel Air, Md., to offer prayers for his safe return home.
"We're trying to stay positive," the elder Hogan said Sunday in a telephone interview from his home in Maryland. "I've been really down, but it doesn't do any good to let yourself get down. I'm just going to stay positive that he's out there somewhere and he's going to come home."
Hogan had been making progress dealing with an obsessive-compulsive disorder at Spring Lake Ranch, where he had stayed about a year before moving to Rutland two months before he went missing.
Hogan's condition required that he take as many as eight different medications each day, and he had been experiencing medical problems when he suddenly left work at the ranch, leaving his job with only the clothes on his back. His apartment did not appear to be disturbed.
Police have since searched the wooded area around the ranch several times without turning up a clue. Hogan's family has tried to do everything they can to find him, contacting missing person organizations nationwide, as well as setting up a Web site highlighting their son's case, helpfindmikehogan.org.
This year in April, Hogan's parents traveled to California after a reported sighting of their son. While they say they are confident he had been in that area, they left unable to locate him.
"There's been no more sightings since than," the elder Hogan said. "I've had people call me from California saying they thought the saw my son …. They contacted the police there, but you have to do these things immediately. By the time the word gets to where it has to get and a patrol car gets to the vicinity, it's too late."
A $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Hogan's return. In addition, the case is highlighted on the Vermont State Police Web site.
Anyone with information is asked to call State Police Detective Sgt. Robert Patten at 773-9101.
Hogan is among the roughly 8,000 missing adults the FBI lists as "endangered" or "disabled," meaning they suffer from some form of mental illness that may lead them to attempt suicide or abandon their lives.
There have been reported sightings of Hogan in downtown Rutland and the Killington area, but none recently. Police point out that they have been unable to confirm those sightings.
"We just want him to know we love him and we miss him," Hogan's father said. "We want people to keep an eye out for him, to keep a lookout."
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
40