1/19/2025: CASE NOTES

Details of Disappearance

Messick was last seen hunting with friends and relatives on state land in the Lake George Wild Forest near Brant Lake near Horicon, New York at 10:00 a.m. November 15, 2015. The group separated a short distance off Lily Pond Road, with plans to meet up at an agreed-upon location at 2:00 p.m.

Messick never arrived at the rendezvous point, and his hunting party began searching for him. At 4:30 p.m., after they were unable to find him, they contacted forest rangers. Four rangers searched the area until midnight, and the subsequent volunteer-assisted search lasted weeks, but no sign of Messick was ever located.

According to his wife of over fifty years, Messick is an experienced hunter and woodsman and, if he had gotten lost, he would have cut off a piece of his jacket and tied it to a tree to mark his path. Due to his age and health issues, authorities don't believe he could have gotten very far on his own. His case remains unsolved and his family believes he's deceased.