Missouri resident last seen alive over a month ago
Donald Storey
Deep Creek – While conducting what was purportedly the final search for a missing Missouri man Friday, Graham County authorities came across a grizzly scene.
Local agencies had combined their efforts to try and locate Donald Storey, 88 of Springfield, Mo., for a week and a half,, after Storey’s grey 2020 Chevrolet Blazer was located abandoned outside a forest-service gate in the Deep Creek area of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. Efforts from the initial discovery of the vehicle ramped up when the Blazer remained unmoved two weeks later.
Graham County Sheriff Brad Hoxit confirmed to The Graham Star that human remains were found Friday afternoon, well below the gate where Storey’s vehicle was first spotted.
Due to the elements of rain and time, the remains were in an advanced state of decomposition have been sent to the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh for assistance with positive identification.
But for now, the discovery concludes an unusual series of events surrounding the disappearance of Storey.
Here is the timeline of the case thus far, through Friday’s location of the remains by U.S. Forest Service employee and Graham County Rescue Squad volunteer Brent Eller:
* Wednesday, July 5: According to a flyer issued by the Missouri State Highway Patrol Missing Persons Clearinghouse, this is the last known date of anyone having contact with Storey.
* Saturday, July 8: Hoxit told the Star that after the sheriff’s office sifted through hundreds of photos on a popular motorcycle-photo website, Storey is seen traveling along the Tail of the Dragon en route to Graham County. Later, his cell phone is pinged in the county. A post shared through the Star’s Facebook page last weekend indicated Storey was supposed to be traveling to Port Huron, Mich., to visit family, but that could not be verified.
* Tuesday, July 25: In a snippet of information not known to the Star before its original Aug. 17 report on the search, Mitch Millsaps with the U.S. Forest Service notes Storey’s vehicle parked at the Deep Creek gate. Reportedly, Millsaps writes down the tag number – but does not tell anyone about spotting the Blazer.
* Friday, Aug. 4: Over a month after the last noted contact anyone has with Storey, members of his church in Springfield file a missing persons report.
* Tuesday, Aug. 8: Eller and U.S. Forest Service agent Tory Lynnes see the vehicle at the gate. In a conversation later that day, Millsaps tells Lynnes and Eller that the vehicle sounds like the one he noticed parked there exactly two weeks earlier. Millsaps then produces the tag number he had jotted down, allegedly stating that he “didn’t think anything about it.” Eller and Lynnes take the tag number to Graham County EMS Director Brian Stevens and after running the tag, it is discovered that the vehicle is linked to Storey. Search and rescue efforts begin that evening, with Hoxit saying that chief deputy Cody George organized a crew from the sheriff’s office; Stevens coordinated EMS efforts; and Jeff Millsaps assembed a team from the Graham County Rescue Squad. Hoxit said search efforts took place every day, covering a vast area of the historic forest.
* Friday, Aug. 18: After 10 days of searching – and even the use of N.C. State Bureau of Investigation cadaver dogs – a decision was reportedly made to end efforts if nothing was discovered. Eller decided to scope out an area where a stray ball cap had been found in the road. It is unknown if the cap belonged to Storey or not, but Eller followed his instincts – and promptly took a lengthy fall off the side of the road after losing his footing. After being unable to derail his fall, Eller finally came to rest. Gathering his bearings, Eller spotted a pair of glasses and a ball-point pen lying on the ground. Eller stood up – and his eyes locked with human remains further down the hill. It is estimated that the remains were located over a mile below the road.
No foul play is suspected concerning the remains. Eller allegedly slipped on a slick root to begin his descent; it is unknown if the remains suffered the same fate.
“I have been on numerous wildfires and searches with Brent in rugged terrain and never saw him fall, even once,” attested Marshall McClung, a retired member of the Graham County Rescue Squad and contributing writer for the Star.
Hoxit said the sheriff’s office had spoken with Storey’s medical team in Missouri, who confirmed he was in excellent health and had no signs of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
It is unclear why Storey ended up in Graham County and although there has yet to be a precise identification of Friday’s discovery, the dots connect too well for some to ignore.
“All the pieces fell into place,” Stevens said. “God meant for him to be found.”
McClung also contributed to this report.