A missing Oklahoma man's vehicle was found abandoned near Chastain Beach in Stuart this week, and his family says they haven't heard a word from him since he vanished. The Martin County Sheriff's Office is now asking the public for help finding 5-foot-7-inch Michael Anthony Debevec II, who was visiting the area with family when he disappeared.
According to CBS 12, Debevec went to Chastain Beach and has not been seen since, with his vehicle later recovered near the same location. The sheriff's office says he may be experiencing an emotional breakdown, though that has not been confirmed as the cause of his disappearance. Deputies describe him as having blue eyes and are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward.
Debevec was last seen on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 26, according to Treasure Coast Today, which reported the timeline established by the sheriff's office between his last sighting and Sunday's public appeal for help. That gap of several days between when he was last seen and when the case went public has left investigators working with limited leads at the water's edge.
A Rocky, Often Unguarded Stretch of Coast
Chastain Beach sits along South Ocean Boulevard on Hutchinson Island and is known locally as “The Rocks” because of the Anastasia limestone formations that line the shore and extend underwater, per Discover Martin County. The same source notes the beach offers public access to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Lagoon, but lifeguard coverage there is seasonal, leaving the surf unwatched during off-peak stretches of the year. Those terrain and staffing factors add complexity to a search centered on a rocky, partly unsupervised coastline.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office can call on dedicated Marine and Aviation Units based at Witham Field in Stuart, which include two helicopters equipped with thermal imaging cameras and six sworn marine deputies available around the clock for coastal search-and-rescue missions, according to the agency's own posted unit information. That capacity was on display less than two weeks before Debevec disappeared, when deputies, marine officers, and a lifeguard pulled a distraught swimmer from the ocean after a sheriff's helicopter spotted him in distress off the county's coast, as Hoodline reported on August 18.
State Systems That Could Come Into Play
Florida law requires agencies to maintain written missing-person policies and to promptly enter missing adult cases into state and national crime databases, under Florida Statute Section 937.021, according to the Florida Legislature's Online Sunshine statutes portal. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement separately runs the Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse, which offers analytical support, flyers, and database tracking in cases where investigators suspect an adult is endangered or in crisis. It remains an open question whether Martin County investigators have formally requested that clearinghouse's assistance in Debevec's case.
Florida's Purple Alert system, enacted by the state legislature in 2021 and updated in 2024, allows law enforcement to broadcast public alerts for missing adults suffering from mental, emotional, or developmental disabilities who face immediate danger, per the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Whether that alert or another localized public notice has been issued for Debevec has not been confirmed. Statewide, such alert systems processed hundreds of endangered-adult cases in recent years, including 287 Silver Alerts in 2021 that led to 280 safe recoveries, the agency has reported.
Searches Like This Often Require Multiple Agencies
Coastal missing-person searches along Martin County's barrier islands frequently draw in the Sheriff's Office, Martin County Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard, and local private boaters working together, as seen during a major ocean search off Beach Road in June 2025, according to FOX 35 Orlando. Whether marine sonar or helicopter thermal imaging has turned up any physical clues near the shoreline where Debevec's vehicle was found has not been disclosed. The Martin County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about Debevec's whereabouts to call 772-220-7170.
