On the afternoon of September 20, 1999, a 28-year-old Turkish immigrant named Hakan Karacay told his family he was going to the store. He was last seen at approximately 5:00 p.m. leaving the Clifton, New Jersey, apartment he shared with his parents. He drove away in his brother's car, a silver 1989 Mazda 626. At the time, he was wearing brown pants, a gray and black shirt, and black leather dress shoes.
Hakan, who had moved to the United States in 1988, was described as having light brown hair, brown eyes, and two distinct scars on his forehead. His family noted that he had not been acting unusually before he left. In the years leading up to his disappearance, he had been unemployed after leaving a job as a factory manager and would spend his days reading Turkish newspapers and visiting with friends and family.
Worrisome days turned into a week with no word from Hakan. A significant break in the case came on September 25, 1999, when his brother's Mazda was found abandoned many miles from home. The vehicle was discovered by a citizen on Wells Hill Road, a remote dirt road in the Adirondack Mountains near Lewis, New York. This location was approximately 60 miles south of the Canadian border, an area where Hakan had no known connections. The state of the car only deepened the mystery. The keys were found in the ignition, the light switch was on, the battery was dead, and the gas tank was empty. Inside the vehicle, investigators found two packs of cigarettes, one of which was Parliament, his preferred brand. There was no sign of Hakan, nor any indication of foul play at the scene where the car was located.
In the wake of the car's discovery, an extensive search of the rugged surrounding area was launched. New York State Police, along with New York State Forest Rangers and Environmental Conservation Police, conducted a thorough ground search that included the use of aviation and K-9 units, but their efforts yielded no clues as to Hakan's whereabouts. Over two decades have passed, and the case of Hakan Karacay remains unsolved, with his file still active among cold cases. The overview of the case is one of profound and sudden mystery. A young man, with no apparent troubles according to his family, vanished after leaving for a simple errand, his only trace being his brother's car, found abandoned in a remote, inexplicable location hundreds of miles from his home. The perplexing scene of the vehicle, seemingly left in a hurry, continues to baffle investigators and has left his loved ones without answers for many years.Last Seen: Sep 20, 1999
