In the late summer of 1987, a 31-year-old man named Michael Ernest Black disappeared from Asheville, North Carolina, leaving behind a void that has been filled only with questions for over three decades. On the evening of September 4th, Michael, also known as Mike to his friends and family, was at a local establishment called Cowboys Bar on Haywood Road. He was last seen there in the company of an unidentified man and woman.
At the time, he was wearing a blue t-shirt, blue jeans, and black tennis shoes. Michael was a white male with blond hair and blue eyes, and he had a mustache. His appearance was also distinguished by several tattoos, including a snake, a spider, and a star inside a circle on his arms, as well as multiple scars on his wrists, arms, thigh, abdomen, and back. He did not own a vehicle. Six days after he was last seen, on September 10, 1987, Michael was officially reported as a missing person to the Asheville Police Department.
The investigation into Michael's disappearance has spanned many years, yet few concrete details have emerged to explain what happened to him after he left the bar that night. The circumstances surrounding his case have led investigators to suspect foul play. Witnesses reported that he left Cowboys Bar with a dark-haired white male and a white female with long dark hair. The identities of these two individuals remain unknown, and they have never been publicly identified or come forward with information. The lack of significant leads has left Michael's family and the community with a painful and enduring mystery.
The passage of time has not diminished the hope of finding answers in Michael Black's case. His profile is listed in national missing persons databases, and his case remains open with the Asheville Police Department. The official classification of his case is that of an endangered missing person. Over the years, the building that once housed Cowboys Bar has undergone changes, but the questions of that September night in 1987 still linger in the community. The overview of this case is one of a sudden and unexplained disappearance, a night that began with a casual beer at a local bar and ended in an enduring mystery that has left a family searching for answers for decades.Last Seen: Sep 4, 1987
