In the fall of 1997, a young man named Mitchell Adolfo Zepedo had plans for the future. At 24 years old, he was preparing for a trip from his home in Lyons, Illinois, with the intention of traveling to Traverse City, Michigan. From there, his journey was to continue to Mexico, where he planned to visit his wife and son. On September 17, 1997, he was seen for the last time as he set out on the first leg of his travels. He was expected to return from Michigan the following day before heading to Mexico, but he never made it back, and his loved ones never heard from him again. His family officially reported him missing on October 2, 1997, sparking an investigation into his sudden and perplexing disappearance.
The weeks following Mitchell's disappearance yielded few answers. A significant development in the case came on October 30, 1997, when his car was discovered abandoned in Berwyn, Illinois, a neighboring suburb of Lyons. The recovery of his vehicle, however, did not provide any immediate clues as to his whereabouts or what might have happened to him after he was last seen. The investigation continued, but with limited leads, the case grew cold over the years. Hope for a breakthrough was reignited in September 2002 when authorities received a tip suggesting that Mitchell's body might be buried in the basement or yard of an apartment building in Cicero, Illinois, where he had previously resided. Investigators conducted a thorough search of the property, digging up the indicated areas, but unfortunately, their efforts did not uncover any evidence related to the missing man.
The search for Mitchell Zepedo has continued over the years, with his case being listed on national missing persons databases. He is described as a Hispanic male with black hair and brown eyes, and at the time of his disappearance, he was between 5'8" and 5'11" tall and weighed between 160 and 180 pounds. It has also been noted that he may have used the alias Rene Rivas. Despite the passage of time, the Lyons Police Department continues to hold the case as open and unsolved. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain a mystery; it is unknown if he ever reached his initial destination of Traverse City, Michigan. The discovery of his car in Berwyn six weeks after he vanished and the unsuccessful search in Cicero five years later are the most significant events in an investigation that has spanned decades, leaving his family with unanswered questions about his fate.
Last Seen: Sep 17, 1997
