Family members say 55-year-old Kirk Buik of Shepherd, Texas, was last seen on **July 1, 2019**, in the Cherry Creek Subdivision near Shepherd. At that time he was staying with acquaintances in the front yard of a friend’s home, according to witnesses. Buik was known to walk or ride a bicycle—he did not own a vehicle—and he often moved between homes of people he knew in the Shepherd/San Jacinto County area.
His work was sporadic: he was a carpenter by trade but supported himself largely through odd jobs, staying with friends rather than having a permanent address.
Buik had limited family ties. His family reported that he was estranged from most relatives and maintained minimal contact—primarily with his ex‑wife and sister—making concern especially acute when weeks passed without any word from him. By late August 2019, roughly seven weeks after he was last seen, relatives formally filed a missing‑person report and issued pleas for any information on his whereabouts.
That missing‑person report set in motion an investigative effort supported by the Texas Rangers and the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities obtained a search warrant for a property on the **700 block of Cherry Creek Road** in Shepherd — a location connected to the people Buik had associated with. When they executed the warrant in late September 2019, investigators unearthed a `pungent‑smelling` metal barrel buried beneath a tool shed on the property using heavy equipment—a trackhoe. Inside, human remains were discovered; although initial identification required time, Buik’s family believed strongly the remains belonged to him.
Two men living at the property—**Matthew David Greenwood** and **Jack Wayne Gonzales**—were arrested soon thereafter and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with further charges expected as the investigation progressed. Authorities declined to confirm outright whether the remains were definitively Buik’s pending laboratory identification. However, DNA testing later confirmed the identity of the body as belonging to Buik.
Four years later, in **March 2023**, the case reached a legal resolution: Jack Gonzales pled guilty to his role in Buik’s death under an amended plea deal and received a **15‑year prison sentence**, agreeing to avoid lengthy appeals. Matthew Greenwood had already accepted a plea and was serving a sentence—both men implicated in Buik’s killing.
Prosecutors indicated the motive was related to a stolen firearm: Greenwood and Gonzales believed Buik had stolen their gun, and lured him to the compound under that pretext. Once there, Buik was reportedly struck with a hatchet, beaten severely, doused with bleach, wrapped in a tarp, and placed in the barrel while possibly still alive. The barrel was then buried under a shed on the property. Greenwood and Gonzales allegedly lived on what was described as a drug‑use compound on Cherry Creek Road, which Buik visited frequently.
In summary: Kirk Buik was reported missing after being last seen walking or bicycling in Shepherd on July 1, 2019. A search warrant executed in September 2019 led investigators to human remains buried in a barrel at a property tied to two suspects. DNA later confirmed the identity, and both men eventually pled guilty to roles in his death, with sentencing finalized in 2023.Last Seen: Jul 1, 2019
