In the spring of 2013, a mystery began to unfold in Memphis, Tennessee, surrounding the sudden and inexplicable disappearance of Rick Eden Bready. On May 2, 2013, the 61-year-old male vanished, leaving behind a life and a community of concerned loved ones. Bready, a U.S. Navy veteran, was not a man who could easily traverse the world unnoticed; he was living with severe physical limitations resulting from an old injury.
Having endured five separate back operations, doctors had once told him he would never walk again. Though he defied that prognosis, he relied heavily on a cane to get around, a fact that would become a central and baffling element in the investigation into where he could have gone.
The day after the last conversation a family member had with him, loved ones went to check on Bready at his home on Central Avenue and were met with a deeply unsettling scene. All the items one would need for daily life were still inside the house; his keys, wallet, and car were all accounted for. Most significantly, the cane he depended on for mobility had also been left behind. The scene held more disturbing clues, including the presence of blood on the front door, a door his family noted he rarely used. The mystery deepened when a search of the area uncovered his wristwatch in a drainage ditch approximately 70 yards from his home, a location his family firmly believes his physical condition would have made it impossible for him to navigate on his own.
Further complicating the circumstances of his disappearance were reports about his state of mind just before he went missing. A neighbor reported seeing Bready the day before he vanished and described him as appearing to be hallucinating, with blood and mud on his arm. His family acknowledged that pain medications he was taking might have caused him to become disoriented. The essential items Rick Bready needed to survive were not with him when he disappeared. The overview of this case is one of profound confusion and concern; a man with significant mobility challenges vanished from his home, leaving behind his car, wallet, and the cane he needed to walk. The discovery of blood and his watch in a nearby ditch, coupled with his reported disorientation, creates a perplexing mystery that has remained unsolved for years.Last Seen: May 2, 2013
