At some point after disposing of her husband’s body, Wendi called the airline, cancelling the family’s four tickets for the flight to Maine. Around 5 A.M. on Sunday, she picked up the phone and called the Severance home in Maine.
Leslie had already left for work. Brinda answered the phone. “Where is Michael? Have you seen Michael?” Wendi asked.
“ ‘Where is Michael?’ What are you talking about? You are supposed to be getting on an airplane to fly here. You’re not at the airport?” Brinda said.
“No. I can’t find Michael. I don’t know where he is. He didn’t come home last night.”
“He wouldn’t miss a trip back home. Are you ready to leave when he shows up?”
“I haven’t even started packing yet. But we’ll fly out just as soon as I find him.”
Brinda could not believe what she was hearing. The flight was just a couple hours away and Wendi hadn’t packed? Where was Mike? He was on leave—but had something happened? Had he been called in to work because of a national emergency? She sat stunned for a few minutes and then called her daughter Nicole.
Together, they wondered if, for some unknown reason, Mike was on his way there alone. Brinda called the airport. She learned that the tickets for the flight had been cancelled that morning. Dread uncoiled, releasing an overload of acid into her stomach. She called the bus lines and the trains, but could not find any passenger named Michael Severance. She spent hours on the telephone, talking to everyone she knew, trying to find Mike. She walked past the snowsuit, boots and sled she’d bought for Tristan, and burst into tears. She was desperate to locate Mike before Les returned home from his twelve-hour shift.
Nicole called Wendi several times that day for updates, but there never were any new developments. Nicole got more frantic with every passing hour. She was baffled by Wendi’s attitude. Mike’s wife acted as if it was no big deal at all.
In Texas, Marshall Davidson called his parents to remind them that he’d be coming to San Angelo on Monday and to ask about his grandmother’s health.
“Mike’s gone missing,” Judy said.
“Missing?”
“He’s not here. He was supposed to go on that trip to Maine, and we don’t know where he is,” Judy said.
Lloyd got on the other phone and joined the conversation. “He’s been wanting out of the military. Maybe he made the trip to Maine early and went off to Canada.”
Judy said, “I can’t believe it, but he ran off on Wendi, and left the baby and everything.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” Marshall assured his parents.
Les got home from work that evening at 6. One look at Brinda’s face and he sensed something was wrong. “You don’t look ready to go. We’ve got to drive down to Bangor, the plane will be in soon.”
“Mike isn’t coming, Les,” Brinda told him.
“What do you mean, Mike’s not coming?”
“Mike is missing, Les. Wendi called this morning. She wanted to know if he was here. I’ve been on the phone all day trying to find him.”
“Something’s wrong,” Les said. “He wouldn’t miss coming home.” He called Wendi and questioned her.
“We left Mike at home and I took his truck and the kids over to my parents’ house and I haven’t seen him since,” she said.
“Mike’s truck was supposed to be in the shop. He had an appointment to take it in Saturday morning. What were you doing with it?” Les asked.
“Oh, we forgot to take it in,” Wendi said.
Leslie knew how much his son cared about that truck. He knew he wouldn’t forget to take it in. Leslie was devastated. They’d rented a hall and planned a reception for Michael and his new bride. They were so excited about the arrival of his son and family. Now, all that anticipation turned to cinders—replaced by a churning anxiety. Leslie Severance knew something bad had to have happened to his son, but he knew nothing more.
Soon after talking to Les, Wendi and her father went to the San Angelo Police Department to file a missing persons report. She provided the necessary details to Officer Lucien Thomas and was told that an investigator would come to see her on Monday morning. Wendi then called the Air Force and reported that Staff Sergeant Michael Severance was missing from his home.
On Monday morning, although Advanced Animal Care was scheduled to be closed, Wendi opened it for business. Judy reported to work, picked up her grandsons and took them to day care. When Detective Dennis McGuire of the San Angelo Police Department arrived at Advanced Animal Care, Marshall Davidson was there with his sister. McGuire asked questions and looked around the facility and the apartment.
Wendi insisted she did not know the location of Michael Severance. “He’s been acting strangely over the last couple of weeks. He’s been drinking heavy and spending lot of time at Buffalo Wild Wings and Graham Station.”
“And that’s unusual for him?”
“It is out of character. And he’s been disappearing for hours at a time without telling me where he’s going. I got home Saturday night about eight, and he wasn’t here. And I haven’t heard from him since then,” Wendi added.
When McGuire asked about Michael’s job, she told him that he was in the Air Force and on leave until Monday, January 24. “We were supposed to fly to Maine to visit his parents yesterday morning, but we didn’t go, because he was gone. I called the airline and they checked and said he didn’t fly out by himself. I don’t know where he is.”
“What did he take with him?” McGuire asked.
“There’s two hundred-twenty-one dollars missing from the cash register. Mike knew the money was kept there, and he could get into the till. I think he took it,” Wendi accused. She didn’t bother to explain that it was only in small bills, making it a huge wad of cash to stuff in a pocket.
McGuire walked through the clinic noticing a knife with a blue handle, and mentally noting the computer and the types of drugs on hand. He did not confiscate anything. As he went through the couple’s apartment, McGuire noticed that all Michael’s clothing still appeared to be there, and none of the luggage was missing. Behind the building, Michael’s 2004 blue Dodge pick-up sat in the lot, as did Wendi’s 2001 red Chevrolet Camaro. Inside the cab of the truck, McGuire found Michael’s cell phone.
McGuire brought the phone inside and continued to look around the clinic. In Maine, Frank Severance dialed the cell number of his missing brother just before 3:30 that afternoon. McGuire told Marshall to answer. As Frank heard the click of someone connecting the phone, his heart soared. He believed for a brief moment that he’d hear Mike’s voice and all would be well. He’d have a story the two of them would laugh about for years to come. Instead, there was another voice on the line—someone he did not recognize. “Who is this?” Frank demanded.
Marshall explained that he was Wendi’s brother and that Mike’s phone was found in his pick-up. Frank was rattled by hearing a strange voice and even more unsettled by learning that wherever Mike was, he didn’t take his cell.
Les called the San Angelo Police Department and received another shock. He couldn’t believe the callousness of the unidentified man who spoke to him. “We’ll probably find him shacked up somewhere with a whore.”
This description did not fit the son Les knew he’d raised. Next, he called Mike’s commanding officer, Captain Bill Walker at Dyess Air Force Base. Les repeated his concerns, explained the plans to fly to Maine and held his breath.
“Let me look into this and get back to you,” Walker said.
Les was bewildered. The way the day was going, he didn’t think he’d hear back from the Air Force any time soon. He felt so helpless. When the phone rang fifteen minutes later, he could barely believe Walker was on the other end of the line. “You are absolutely right,” the captain said. “This is not characteristic of Michael. Something is wrong. I can’t do anything official until he’s AWOL. He’s on leave and doesn’t have to report for duty until January twenty-fourth. But I’ll look into it. It doesn’t sound right.”
Relief washed over Les. His son was still missing, but at least now someone obviously cared—someone believed in Michael. The insensitive comment made to Les by someone at the police department had left a sour taste in his mouth and it would permanently skew the family’s view of the investigation into the disappearance of Michael Severance.