On July 11, 2025, in Oscoda Township, Michigan, 44-year-old Leslie Lewis Brown was last seen. According to his live-in girlfriend, he had plans to go fishing with a friend along the Pine River. When his girlfriend returned home from a trip, Leslie was not there, prompting her to report him missing on July 19, 2025. At the time of his disappearance, Leslie was described as a white male, 6 feet 1 inch tall, and weighing approximately 235 pounds. He had short brown hair, blue eyes, and a short beard.
The days and weeks following Leslie's disappearance were filled with uncertainty for his loved ones and the community. The Oscoda Township Police Department initiated an investigation into his whereabouts, case number 25-2055. Details about the friend he was supposed to have gone fishing with have not been made widely public, and it is unclear if this individual was ever located or questioned. The circumstances surrounding his failure to return home from the fishing trip remained the primary focus of the initial investigation.
Ultimately, the search for Leslie Lewis Brown came to a sorrowful conclusion. He was located deceased. While the specific details regarding the date, location, and circumstances of his discovery are not readily available in public sources, the official status of his case was updated to reflect this outcome. The investigation that began as a search for a missing person transitioned into determining the events that led to his death. The overview of this case is that a man who was reported missing after not returning from a fishing trip was tragically found deceased, leaving his family and community with unanswered questions and grief.
Leslie "Les" Lewis Brown, a 44-year-old male, disappeared from Oscoda Township, Michigan, in mid-July 2025, with public reports placing his last known movements around July 11 to July 12 near the Van Etten Creek area. He had recently moved to Oscoda after previously living in Perry, Michigan, and was known as someone with longtime ties to the Greater Lansing area. What began as a fishing outing near his home became a deeply troubling missing-person case when he did not return, leaving the people closest to him trying to understand how an ordinary trip into a familiar outdoor setting could end in silence.
Public reports said Leslie had gone fishing with a companion near his home along Van Etten Creek. His longtime girlfriend was away on a trip downstate, and when she returned and found that Leslie had not come home from the fishing trip, she reported him missing to the Oscoda Township Police Department. The timeline was not completely clear in the earliest public reporting, but authorities described him as last seen on or around July 12, and the missing-person report was filed on July 19, 2025. At the time, he was described as a white male, 6 feet 1 inch tall and about 235 pounds, with short dark brown hair and a beard.
The search that followed reflected how seriously authorities treated his disappearance. Oscoda Township police searched the area where Leslie was believed to have last been, and the effort included help from multiple agencies and search resources. Public reporting described the use of drone aircraft from All County Search and Rescue, watercraft from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, search dogs, and volunteers searching on foot. The Michigan State Police, the Department of Natural Resources, Perry Police Department, Shiawassee County Sheriff's Office, and Flint Police Department were also reported as assisting in the case. The search area near Van Etten Creek presented the kind of difficult outdoor environment where water, woods, and uneven terrain could slow efforts and make every lead feel urgent.
As the search continued, police released limited information to protect the investigation. A surveillance still was described as the last confirmed sighting of Leslie, but authorities did not publicly disclose the exact date, time, or location of that image because the case remained open and active. That detail gave the investigation a sharper sense of mystery: police had an image they believed showed how Leslie looked before he disappeared, but they were still working to understand what happened after that moment. For his family, girlfriend, friends, and former community in Perry, the uncertainty must have been agonizing, with every hour of searching carrying both hope and fear.
The search came to a heartbreaking turn on July 31, 2025, when canines from All County Search and Rescue located what authorities described at the time as likely remains in a wooded area near Van Etten Creek. Police said the investigation would continue until the remains were confirmed and a cause of death was determined. Later public reporting stated that Leslie Lewis Brown's remains were found in Oscoda Township and that his injuries were consistent with assault and strangulation. His obituary, published shortly afterward, remembered him as a beloved father, brother, uncle, and friend, someone connected to family, laughter, loyalty, sports, and the outdoors.
Nearly a year after Leslie disappeared, authorities announced an arrest in the case. Marquel Jermaine Jones of Flint was arrested and charged with homicide for his alleged involvement in Leslie's death. Public reporting stated that the charge followed the discovery of Leslie's remains and the determination that his injuries were consistent with assault and strangulation. Even after the arrest, the Oscoda Township Police Department continued asking anyone with information to contact Detective Sgt. Hall, indicating that investigators still wanted help from the public as the case moved forward.
Leslie Brown's case began with a fishing trip near Van Etten Creek in Oscoda Township and grew into a large search involving police, search teams, dogs, drones, watercraft, and volunteers. He was 44 years old, male, and had recently moved to Oscoda after living in Perry, Michigan. He was later found deceased, and authorities eventually charged Marquel Jermaine Jones with homicide in connection with his death. The overview of the case is that Leslie vanished after reportedly going fishing with a companion near his home, was found deceased in a wooded area near the creek, and the investigation developed from a missing-person search into a homicide case that still called for information from anyone who may know more about what happened to him.
Last Seen: Jul 11, 2025
