It was supposed to be a quiet getaway in the Vermont wilderness — a week of solitude, trails, and fresh air.

But for Michael Reese, a 34-year-old software engineer from Boston, that trip became the beginning of one of New England’s most haunting unsolved disappearances.

In April 2021, Michael checked into a cozy Airbnb cabin on the edge of the Green Mountains. According to the host, he was polite, quiet, and seemed excited about exploring nearby hiking trails.

On his second morning, April 12, he left the cabin at 7:04 AM, carrying only a small daypack, a trail map, and a thermos of coffee.

His rental car remained parked in the driveway. His phone was left charging on the nightstand. His suitcase lay open on the bed — clothes still folded neatly inside.

By that evening, when Michael didn’t return, his Airbnb host alerted local authorities. A massive search operation began, covering more than 20 square miles of dense forest.

Helicopters, drones, and K-9 units found no trace. Not a single footprint, torn fabric, or clue.

Within a week, the search was scaled back.

Michael Reese had simply vanished.

Eighteen Months Later — The Hunter’s Discovery

In October 2022, nearly a year and a half after the disappearance, a local hunter named Darren Holt was tracking deer twelve miles north of the Airbnb site — the opposite direction from where search teams had searched.

There, tangled in the low branches of a birch tree, hung a weathered gray hiking jacket.

Inside one pocket was a folded piece of paper, dry despite months of exposure. It contained three things:

A set of GPS coordinates

A date — April 13, 2021

And a single, chilling sentence: “I finally found it.”

The coordinates led investigators deep into the wilderness, miles from any established trail.

The Campsite in the Woods

At the marked location, searchers discovered what appeared to be a makeshift campsite — a small fire ring, a half-collapsed tarp shelter, and scattered food wrappers. There were signs someone had stayed there for days or even weeks.

But there was no body, no clothing, and no clear indication of what had happened next. Forensic analysis of the site yielded partial fingerprints — all belonging to Michael Reese.

The question investigators still can’t answer: what was he looking for?

When authorities searched Michael’s apartment, they found his laptop — and with it, a digital trail that painted a far stranger picture.

For months before his trip, Michael had been researching the 1998 disappearance of another hiker, Laura Nichols, who vanished under eerily similar circumstances in the same region of Vermont. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigators found dozens of GPS coordinates saved in a document labeled “Nichols Trail Hypothesis.” The most recent edits to that file were made just days before Michael’s trip.

At the very top of the document, he had typed one unfinished line: “If the rumors are true, the map doesn’t just show where she disappeared — it shows why.”

Unanswered Questions

Was Michael Reese following a trail that led him too far into the wilderness?

Did he uncover something connected to the 1998 case — something he wasn’t meant to find?

Or did isolation, obsession, and exhaustion drive him to vanish on purpose?

Despite multiple follow-up searches in 2023 and 2024, no further evidence has surfaced. His bank accounts, credit cards, and digital activity remain frozen since the day he disappeared.

For the Reese family, the mystery is both unbearable and unresolved.

“We just want to know if he’s out there,” his sister told reporters. “If he found what he was looking for — or if it found him.”

The Vermont State Police still classify the Michael Reese disappearance as active but unsolved.

The coordinates found in his jacket continue to baffle investigators, as they correspond not to a trail marker — but to a blank section of state land with no records, roads, or maps.

Some hikers now avoid that stretch of forest entirely. Others leave small cairns and ribbons marked M.R., quietly paying tribute to a man who went searching for answers — and became one himself.