Ryan Blagojevic was 37 years old when his family last heard from him in Portland, Maine, on March 31, 2013. He was originally from the Harwich, Massachusetts area, and by the time he disappeared he had been living in Maine for years, moving between communities and eventually staying in Portland shelters or living on the street. Online missing-person records describe him as a White male, about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, with blond or strawberry-blond hair and blue eyes.
His case is listed by NamUs as Missing Person MP36736, and Portland Police Department case information identifies the investigating agency as the Portland Police Department.
Ryan’s life before his disappearance was marked by both family ties and serious hardship. His sister Eve has described a close Cape Cod family home, but also a family history affected by mental health struggles and alcoholism. Ryan reportedly began struggling with alcohol in his early teens, and although his family supported him through treatment and recovery efforts, his addiction continued to shape his adult life. In the late 2000s he was living in northern and downeast Maine, where he became a father. His sister has said he loved his daughter, but his illness and behavior created instability, including legal trouble and the eventual loss of parental rights.
A severe car accident in Maine changed the course of Ryan’s life further. According to a detailed account sourced to reporting and family statements, he was found unconscious after a crash in Surry in 2011 and suffered serious head injuries; his family believed at one point that he might not survive. He did live, but the injuries left him with brain damage, and missing-person profiles describe him as disabled due to that traumatic brain injury. After the accident, his alcohol use reportedly became more severe. He returned to his family home in Massachusetts for a time, but by the fall of 2012 his drinking had reached a point where his parents could no longer allow him to remain there.
Ryan returned to Maine in late 2012. His sister believed he may have wanted to be closer to his daughter and the child’s mother, hoping in some way to repair that part of his life. He first rented a room in Bangor, then moved south to Portland, but stable housing did not last. After his money ran out and his substance use interfered with housing, he became homeless. In Portland, he stayed in shelters or lived on the street, including in the area around services for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder. During this period, his contact with his family was limited but regular in one important way: his parents were his Social Security disability payees, and he would usually call around the beginning of each month so they could send him money.
On the evening of March 31, 2013, Ryan called his parents asking about money, reportedly seeking an advance on his Social Security benefits. His family later described that call as difficult but not violent or final in any clear way. That same night, Portland police were called to Milestone Recovery on India Street after staff reported that Ryan, who was a guest there, was being disruptive and refusing to leave. A Portland officer responded shortly after 7 p.m.; shelter staff wanted Ryan to leave for the night but said he could return the next day. He was removed from the shelter and told to move along. After that, there is no confirmed public record of where he went, whom he encountered, or what happened to him. He did not return the next day, and his family never heard from him again.
His sister reported him missing in May 2013, after the silence became impossible to explain. The lack of contact was deeply alarming because, even when Ryan was struggling, he had still been expected to reach out when his benefits arrived. His family did not believe he was well-equipped to simply leave and start over because of the effects of his traumatic brain injury, and they also did not believe he would have intentionally ended his life. The Charley Project classifies his case as endangered missing, and later reporting from WGME stated that Portland police were still seeking new leads thirteen years after he vanished. Police have said Ryan had been in Portland for about six months around the time of his disappearance and was known to travel around Maine and Massachusetts.
Ryan’s case remains a painful story of a man who was loved, vulnerable, and living in circumstances that made him easier for the world to overlook. He was a son, brother, and father whose family continued searching for answers after a final phone call, a shelter removal, and a night in Portland that left no clear trail. Anyone with information has been asked to contact the Portland Police Department, with recent public appeals listing 207-874-8575 for information and 207-874-8584 for anonymous tips. In overview, Ryan Blagojevic was last known to be in Portland on March 31, 2013, after contact with his family and an encounter at Milestone Recovery; he was later reported missing, his case was entered into NamUs as MP36736, and the central unanswered question remains what happened to him after he left the shelter that night.Last Seen: Mar 31, 2013
