A 37-year-old Warren man who is legally blind was last seen Thursday afternoon near West Market Street and Lovers Lane SW, and police say he may appear disoriented to anyone who encounters him. Michael Stroup stands between 5 feet 10 inches and 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs approximately 300 to 340 pounds, and has a full beard, according to the missing person report filed after his family reported him missing on Friday.
The Warren Police Department says Stroup was last seen around 4 p.m. Thursday and is asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the Trumbull County 911 Center at 330-841-2512. Stroup's family told police he may appear disoriented, a detail that carries added weight given what relatives have since shared about his specific vulnerabilities.
Stroup's mother, Karen Stroup, posted additional details on Facebook that were not included in the department's initial announcement, saying her son was last seen outside Riverbend on West Market Street wearing a red T-shirt and hospital pajama pants. She also said he is on the autism spectrum in addition to being legally blind, a combination that increases the urgency of locating him quickly.
A Familiar Address in Warren's Behavioral Health Network
The intersection where Stroup disappeared corresponds to Compass Family and Community Services' Riverbend Center at 3120 West Market Street, according to the Mental Health Rehabs Directory, which provides outpatient and residential mental health and addiction recovery services in Warren. The facility's proximity to where Stroup was last seen offers local context for where searchers may be concentrating efforts, though it remains an open question how search crews are prioritizing the immediate area.
Why an Amber-Style Phone Alert Hasn't Sounded
It's unclear whether Warren police or the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation have formally activated a statewide Endangered Missing Adult Alert in Stroup's case. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 5502.522, such an alert can be triggered when law enforcement confirms a person is missing, has a mental or physical impairment, and faces a credible threat of immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death, per the Ohio Association of Broadcasters.
Unlike AMBER Alerts issued for missing children, Ohio's Endangered Missing Adult Alerts don't trigger push notifications or the loud Wireless Emergency Alert tone on cell phones. Instead, the alerts rely on text messages, social media, highway signs, and media broadcasts, meaning residents who don't actively check those channels may never see one. That quieter system places extra weight on community members sharing information themselves.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Missing Persons Unit maintains statewide databases for missing adults and offers specialized investigative support to municipal departments like Warren's, according to the Ohio Attorney General's office. Locally, initial missing person reports are logged through the Trumbull County 911 Communications Center, which coordinates countywide emergency dispatch.
Part of a Busy Month for Missing Adult Cases in Ohio
Stroup's disappearance isn't the only active case on Trumbull County's radar. The Ohio Attorney General's missing persons registry also listed a 16-year-old reported missing from neighboring Vienna Township on Saturday, underscoring how stretched local search resources can become when multiple cases surface within days of each other.
Statewide, 19,930 people were reported missing in Ohio in 2025, a decrease of 1,412 cases compared to 2024, according to the Ohio Attorney General's 2025 Ohio Missing Children Clearinghouse Report released in May. Nationally, the National Crime Information Center logged 349,557 missing person reports in 2024, with roughly 27 percent involving youth.
Ohio agencies have handled several searches for vulnerable adults this month alone. Hoodline previously reported on an 80-year-old Beavercreek man with dementia who prompted a multi-county alert, and a 77-year-old Stark County woman with dementia who was found safe after walking off alone. Stroup's case, involving legal blindness and autism rather than dementia, adds another layer to the pattern of Ohio families and police racing to locate impaired adults before conditions turn dangerous.
No update on Stroup's condition or whereabouts had been announced as of Friday. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Trumbull County 911 Center.
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