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Case Description

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Summary based on the NamUs case record (MP11601) and 5 other sources
In the city of Flint, Michigan, a 50-year-old man named Dennis Jerome Coleman vanished on November 8, 2010, leaving behind a life and a family who loved him. On that day, Dennis was last seen by his roommate at their apartment complex situated on Carpenter Road, near the Dort Highway. He was observed getting into a black 2003 Cadillac Escalade. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a dark gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white Nike brand tennis shoes. Dennis is described as a Black male with black hair and brown eyes, standing between 5'6' and 5'9' tall, and weighing between 175 and 200 pounds. He has noticeable scars on his face and possibly a tattoo.

The circumstances surrounding Dennis Coleman's disappearance remain unsettling and largely unresolved. His family, deeply concerned by his sudden absence, managed to identify and contact the owner of the Cadillac Escalade he was last seen entering. According to the owner's account, he had given Dennis a ride to a local store. However, from that point on, there have been no further confirmed sightings or any communication from Dennis. His family has expressed that it was highly uncharacteristic of him to leave without any warning or explanation, adding to the mystery and distress of his case. The lack of concrete leads has left his loved ones in a painful state of uncertainty for many years.

The investigation into Dennis Coleman's disappearance has been handled by the Flint Police Department. Despite the passage of time, the case remains open, with few details available to the public. The official classification of his case is that of a missing person. The overview of this case is one of a man who seemingly vanished after taking a short trip to a nearby store. The limited information and the conflicting accounts of his last known moments have created a difficult and enduring mystery for his family and for law enforcement. The hope for answers and for Dennis's safe return continues to be held by those who knew and cared for him.
Dennis Jerome Coleman was a 50-year-old man who was last seen in Flint, Michigan, on November 8, 2010. Coleman, a Black male with black hair and brown eyes, was described as standing between approximately 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing between 175 and 200 pounds. He had scars on his face that could have helped distinguish him from others. On the day he disappeared, he was reportedly wearing a dark gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white Nike sneakers. Coleman was a graduate of Northwestern High School, and contemporary reporting described him as someone who remained in regular contact with his relatives, making his sudden disappearance especially troubling to those closest to him. The last known sequence of events began at the apartment complex where he lived on Carpenter Road near Dort Highway in Flint. His roommate reported seeing Coleman leave the residence and get into a black 2003 Cadillac Escalade. That departure became the last confirmed sighting described in publicly available accounts.

When Coleman failed to return or contact his relatives, concern developed quickly. A sister who ordinarily saw him every day realized within a matter of days that she had not heard from him and alerted other family members. His brothers Charles and Roy Coleman became deeply concerned because disappearing without communicating was not characteristic of Dennis. Roy subsequently filed a missing-person report, while relatives began undertaking their own search efforts. Charles told reporters that family members were combing a park, distributing missing-person flyers, and doing whatever they could to find information. Their concern was not based simply on Dennis being away from home for a short time; his brothers explained that they normally heard from him regularly and that even an absence of more than a day or so would have been unusual. As the days passed without contact, what might initially have seemed like a temporary absence became increasingly alarming. The family was left trying to reconstruct an ordinary November day from the few details available, knowing that Dennis had walked out of his residence, entered an SUV, and then seemingly disappeared from their lives.

The black Cadillac Escalade became the most significant publicly known clue in the investigation. Coleman’s roommate had watched him get into the vehicle after leaving the Carpenter Road apartment complex, and his family was eventually able to identify and speak with the Escalade’s owner. According to the owner’s account, he had simply given Dennis a ride to a nearby store. Publicly available reporting does not identify the store, describe precisely where Coleman was dropped off, or establish a confirmed sighting of him after that alleged ride. There is also no published account in the sources identifying another vehicle that Coleman entered afterward or another person who reliably saw him later that day. The statement from the Escalade’s owner therefore provided a possible next step in Coleman’s movements but did not produce a complete trail. The Charley Project summarizes the sequence in essentially the same way: Coleman left his apartment complex near Carpenter Road and Dort Highway, got into a black 2003 Cadillac Escalade, and the vehicle’s owner later told the family that he had transported Coleman to a nearby store. After that point, no further confirmed contact with Coleman is described in the public case record.

There were also indications that Coleman had been living an ordinary and visible life in the neighborhood shortly before he vanished. In the days after his disappearance, neighbors told reporters they had previously seen him working at a vacant house in the area. A person working at that property said Coleman had performed work there on a couple of occasions, although he had not been seen there recently by the time the family was searching for him. This information provided another glimpse of Coleman’s routine but did not explain where he went after November 8. His family’s comments in the immediate aftermath convey how sharply his unexplained absence contrasted with his normal behavior. Charles Coleman emphasized that the family usually heard from Dennis regularly, while Roy spoke openly about hoping and praying that his brother would surface. Their search unfolded without the benefit of a long series of known movements, financial transactions, telephone calls, or confirmed sightings described in public reporting. Instead, they were left with a very short timeline: Dennis was at his residence, he walked outside, he entered a black Escalade, and the man associated with that vehicle said he dropped him at a nearby store. Beyond that, the public trail stopped.

The Flint Police Department became the law-enforcement agency associated with Coleman’s missing-person investigation, and NamUs assigned the case number MP11601. Public missing-person databases have preserved his physical description, clothing, photographs, and the circumstances surrounding the black Escalade so that anyone with knowledge of his movements could recognize the case. The combination of his facial scars, height and weight range, dark gray sweatshirt, jeans, and white Nike shoes formed the identifying description circulated after his disappearance. Yet the strongest part of the case has always remained the account of his final departure from home and the unanswered question of what happened after the reported trip to a nearby store. There is no detailed public record showing that Dennis had announced plans to leave Flint, sever contact with his family, or remain away for an extended period. The contemporary statements from his siblings instead portray a man whose prolonged silence was completely out of character, prompting them to search parks, distribute flyers, contact the person who had driven the Escalade, and appeal publicly for information.

In overview, Dennis Jerome Coleman was a 50-year-old man last seen in Flint, Michigan, on November 8, 2010, leaving the apartment complex where he lived on Carpenter Road near Dort Highway and entering a black 2003 Cadillac Escalade. The owner of that vehicle later told Coleman’s family that he had given Dennis a ride to a nearby store, but publicly available sources provide no confirmed account of Dennis’s movements beyond that point. His relatives quickly recognized that his silence was profoundly unusual because they were accustomed to hearing from him regularly, and they responded by searching locally, distributing flyers, speaking with people who knew him, and seeking help from police. Dennis was described as a Black man with black hair and brown eyes, facial scars, a height between approximately 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches, and a weight between 175 and 200 pounds; he was wearing a dark gray sweatshirt, jeans, and white Nike shoes when last seen. What began as a routine departure from his Flint home became a lasting mystery centered on a brief ride in a black Escalade, an unidentified nearby store, and a family suddenly deprived of the regular contact they had always shared with Dennis.

Last Seen: Nov 8, 2010

Possible Unidentified Matches (10)

Unidentified remains cases whose details are consistent with this person, ranked by how closely they compare. Fields that are unknown in either case are left out of the score.

84%Moderate
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP11139 • Found Jun 13, 2012
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 100%Est. 35–50 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 88%55 mi away, same state
TimingFound 19 months after last seen
Height 100%5'6" vs 5'6"–5'9"
Weight 100%169 lb vs 175–200 lb
Hair 100%Black vs Black
80%Moderate
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP10405 • Found Nov 4, 2011
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 100%Est. 45–60 vs 50
Race 100%Black
Location 86%60 mi away, same state
TimingFound 12 months after last seen
Height 100%5'10" vs 5'6"–5'9"
79%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan - unidentified case UP14804
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP14804 • Found Jan 22, 2016
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 50–70 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 86%60 mi away, same state
TimingFound 5 years after last seen
Height 100%5'10" vs 5'6"–5'9"
Weight 100%170 lb vs 175–200 lb
Hair 40%Gray vs Black
Eyes 100%Brown vs Brown
79%Possible
John Doe — Flint, Michigan
UP154340 • Found Sep 11, 2025
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 100%Est. 38–52 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 100%Same area, same county
TimingFound 15 years after last seen
Height 100%5'4"–5'8" vs 5'6"–5'9"
77%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan - unidentified case UP129330
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP129330 • Found Sep 4, 2024
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 100%Est. 48–62 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 86%61 mi away, same state
TimingFound 14 years after last seen
Height 100%5'5" vs 5'6"–5'9"
Weight 67%126 lb vs 175–200 lb
Hair 70%Gray vs Black
77%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan - unidentified case UP15959
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP15959 • Found Sep 21, 2016
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 50–70 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 86%60 mi away, same state
TimingFound 6 years after last seen
Height 100%5'6" vs 5'6"–5'9"
Weight 58%120 lb vs 175–200 lb
Eyes 100%Brown vs Brown
77%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan - unidentified case UP9963
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP9963 • Found Feb 17, 2012
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 40–60 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 86%60 mi away, same state
TimingFound 15 months after last seen
Height 100%5'10" vs 5'6"–5'9"
Weight 58%120 lb vs 175–200 lb
Hair 40%Gray vs Black
75%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP61455 • Found Nov 1, 2019
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 35–55 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 88%53 mi away, same state
TimingFound 9 years after last seen
Height 100%5'9"–6'2" vs 5'6"–5'9"
75%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan - unidentified case UP53194
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP53194 • Found Oct 26, 2018
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 28–53 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 88%55 mi away, same state
TimingFound 8 years after last seen
Height 100%5'6"–6'0" vs 5'6"–5'9"
75%Possible
John Doe — Detroit, Michigan
UP17123 • Found Sep 22, 2017
View case
Sex ✓Male
Age 85%Est. 45–70 vs 50 when missing
Race 100%Black
Location 88%54 mi away, same state
TimingFound 7 years after last seen
Height 100%5'8"–6'2" vs 5'6"–5'9"

These comparisons are generated automatically from public NamUs case data and are not confirmed identifications. Only DNA, dental or fingerprint comparison by investigators can confirm an identity. If you believe two cases are connected, contact the agency handling the unidentified case.

Unidentified photos are blurred because many are post-mortem. Tap a photo to reveal it.