Sunday marked two weeks since Greenport resident Mary O’Brien last saw her husband Mike, who left the house and never came back.
And two weeks later, she is still searching for answers or clues to her husband’s whereabouts.
When she last saw him, O’Brien said her husband was wearing blue sweatpants, white and blue New Balance or Nike sneakers, a green Carhartt jacket, and a mustard yellow-colored flannel shirt with a T-shirt underneath.
She added that when his pickup was found, her husband had left the keys behind, in a spot where he normally hid them when leaving the vehicle in the past.
Southold Town police said they have not had any new clues. “There really is not a lot more to report on this missing person case,” Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said Saturday. “We have tracked down a few unsubstantiated leads, the homeless shelter spotting being one, without any success.”
Last week, O’Brien said her pastor told her that some guest of Maureen’s Haven, a local homeless program, said they’d recognized his photo and said they’d seen him last in Riverhead, possibly boarding a bus.
“We have not conducted any further specific searches of areas other than the normal patrol checks being conducted by officers,” Flatley said. “We covered the entire area along Orient Point beaches and land in between.”
Flatley said authorities are working on a Missing Persons poster, but added, “Through our law enforcement information sharing networks, Mr. O’Brien’s picture and full description of this case has been posted since its inception.”
O’Brien, 55, a Greenport native, is described as being a white man, 6′ tall, with brown hair and a beard, weighing 250 lbs.
Flatley said he met with members of O’Brien’s family over the weekend “to discuss any newer thoughts, ideas or theories that we may use to develop leads with, just to make sure we are all on the same page.”
“I’m frustrated at this point,” O’Brien’s wife Mary said on Wednesday. “I feel there could be more done.”
Loved ones have been considering every scenario. “It’s a long shot, but maybe he was able to get on a bus, and is in a homeless shelter. He was feeling that low,” Mary said, adding that local houses of worship that host Maureen’s Haven, the East End’s homeless program, would be given photos of her husband to pass out, with the hope that someone might recognize him.
Mary O’Brien said her husband might also be staying in an empty house in Orient, could be in the woods, or might even have found a boat on the beach and taken it out on the water. To that end, she asked anyone to take note of whether or not they were missing a boat left on the beach near where her husband disappeared in Orient.
Friends, she said, have been walking in the woods, searching. “He could be on the South Fork. He could be up west. I don’t know,” she said.
The community has come together to support Mary and her family in their time of need, she said. “This is affecting the community,” she said. “The love I’m getting from people — messages via text, word of mouth — it’s been enormous. I can’t tell you how much it means. People I would never have thought I’d hear from have sent Facebook messages, and it’s meant the world to me. People I don’t talk to on a regular basis have been my strength.” Morning texts from her cousin’s wife, she said, are a lifeline.
“I wish he knew how much everyone cares,” Mary said.
Last Saturday, police continued their search for O’Brien — but despite valiant efforts, family and friends were left still waiting and praying for a miracle as he remained missing.
“We searched the shoreline from Southold to Orient on both the bay and Sound sides in police boats without locating anything of value in this investigation,” Flatley said on January 3. “We also had officers on ATVs search the entire Orient Point area again, including all park areas, with no luck. We expended these resources today because the weather permitted us to, as the forecast showed conditions deteriorating later in the day.”
O’Brien has been missing since December 28; police confirmed that they had commenced a search after he was reported missing by his wife Mary.
“He abruptly left the house without any personal belongings in his vehicle and has not contacted his family since then,” Flatley said. “Our officers completed an initial investigation, but were not able to locate him. A missing persons report was filed and his information transmitted to all police sites.”
Police located the vehicle belonging to O’Brien at the Cross Sound Ferry parking lot in Orient Point. Flatley said after reviewing videotape from surveillance cameras, “We saw a man arrive in the truck belonging to Mr. O’Brien exit his truck and walk east from the ferry terminal toward the beach.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien’s wife Mary and her family continue their vigil. “We’re all still hoping and praying,” she said Friday. “We all love him so much. We’re all just devastated.”
Mary said she was allowed to bring her husband’s truck home, something that gave her comfort.
Reflecting on the days leading up to his disappearance, Mary said they shared a warm family Christmas. “It’s totally out of his character to have done something like this,” she said. “There had been no talk of him going anywhere. We had a wonderful Christmas.” Although money was scarce, Mary said she and her husband were able to buy gifts for the children and a new iPhone for her mother; her husband, she said, spent “45 minutes on Christmas Eve, showing her how to use it.”
Her voice laced with tears, Mary shared memories of the man she’s loved since she was five years old. “I’ve been with this man for 29 years,” she said. “I knew I was going to marry him when I was a child.”
As a little girl, Mary said she would watch O’Brien walk past her house; she’d run to the dining room window to watch him do wheelies on his motorcycle. “He’s been in my life since I was a child, but back then, he had no idea of how I felt. I’ve known him my whole life. Mike and I have been through hell and back together, literally, and we’ve always found our way back to each other.”
In recent days, Mary said her husband was “depressed,” and worried about finances and a lack of work. “But we’ve been through this before, no money, no work. It’s not anything new for us,” she said.
Over the past year, however, Mary said her husband suffered greatly after losing his sister — and most recently, his beloved dog, Jake, a lab/hound mix who went everywhere with him in the back of his truck. “That dog was his life,” she said. “If Jake was here, I’d take him out to that beach and he’d find my husband.”
Her husband, Mary said, was also very close to his granddaughter Abby, 2, who lives with the couple and their daughter. “Her favorite thing is to get up and sit on Mike,who she calls ‘Be Ba,’” she said.
Her husband, Mary said, is a gifted wood craftsman; when their dog was sick with cancer, he’d craft ramps to help make Jake’s life less painful.
“He was depressed,” his wife Mary said, adding that her husband, a carpenter, “drove off in his Chevy pickup truck,” leaving his cell phone behind. “He left everything home.” While he does have a coat and his wallet, Mary said her husband has no cash and no credit cards.
His vehicle is described as “a gold/beige Chevy extended cab pickup with license plate number 8836JS,” his wife said.
“I can’t imagine where he would go,” she said, adding the couple have children and grandchildren, with a new grandchild on the way. “He’s a good man with a good heart and he loves his family more than anything,” she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Southold Town police at 631-765-2600.
