Twenty years after Miguel Oliveras walked out of a Portland strip club and vanished, investigators say they have finally identified three people of interest in his disappearance — but two of them are dead, and the third has hired a lawyer and won't talk. Oliveras, a 24-year-old from Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood, was last seen around 1 a.m. on September 2, 2006, leaving the Platinum Plus Nightclub at 200 Riverside Street in Portland, Maine, wearing a gray camouflage long-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt, green cargo shorts, and white sneakers. He weighed roughly 170 pounds, stood 5 feet 11 inches tall, and had tattoos on his neck, back, shoulder, and hand.
According to The Boston Globe, police in Portland and the FBI have spent two decades investigating the case, and there have been no confirmed sightings of Oliveras anywhere in the years since. Portland police Lieutenant Nicholas Goodman told the paper that detectives are very interested in the three people of interest, though none have been publicly named. Two are now dead, Goodman said, while the third has retained an attorney and is declining to speak with investigators — a legal right that leaves detectives building their case without his cooperation, according to WMTW.
A Trip North That Ended in Disappearance
Oliveras traveled to Portland after an ex-girlfriend who worked as a dancer at Platinum Plus sent him money for a Greyhound bus ticket, the station reports. Once in Maine, Oliveras was reportedly dating or casually seeing a different female entertainer in Portland. Grainy security footage recovered by investigators shows Oliveras and three other individuals inside the club; the footage also shows him leaving the venue with an unidentified man — the last documented visual evidence of him alive.
An altercation occurred inside the club, and Oliveras was asked to leave, but investigators told the Globe they do not believe that incident is what led to his disappearance. The surveillance video capturing him exiting with another man is now tied directly to the sole surviving person of interest, per the station's report. Police believe Oliveras was killed, though they have not said where or how.
Tracing His Final Week
Investigators say they have used text messages and records of Oliveras's movements and associations to narrow down his last week alive, and have spoken with people believed to be involved or loosely involved, along with witnesses and other persons of interest. The investigation has taken detectives from Massachusetts to Florida, the same account notes. Early in the probe, dive teams searched the Rock Row Quarry in Westbrook — about a mile from the club — and cadaver dogs combed nearby woods without finding Oliveras's remains; police also noted he had been staying near Old Orchard Beach around the time he disappeared, per WMTW.
The FBI's Southern Maine Gang Task Force has partnered with Portland police throughout the case, first offering a $10,000 reward in March 2025 before the FBI and Portland Police Department announced on Thursday, September 3, 2026, that the reward had been doubled to $25,000, according to NEWS CENTER Maine. Hoodline previously reported on the initial $10,000 reward when it was announced. Goodman told the paper about the investigation. Police say they've solved seven cold cases over the past four years.
Planning a New Search for Remains
Investigators have narrowed down the areas where they want to search and plan another physical search effort in the location where they believe Oliveras's body was left. That operation will involve trained cadaver dogs and specialized equipment, and police are working with forensic anthropologists — experts commonly used in cold cases to distinguish human skeletal remains from other bone fragments found in outdoor terrain, per NEWS CENTER Maine.
The Platinum Plus Nightclub where Oliveras was last seen is now known as Rick's Cabaret, reflecting the commercial turnover at the site over the past two decades, WMTW notes. Maine State Police, meanwhile, have a dedicated Major Crimes Unit – Unsolved. A Maine Legislature document assigns major-crimes units responsibility for homicides. The article also discusses missing-person case files. It also references unsolved homicides and missing-person cases in Maine.
A Mother Still Waiting for Answers
Myrna Gonzalez, Oliveras's mother, told the Globe that not knowing her son's whereabouts all these years is killing her, and she has asked anyone with information to come forward. Goodman said police want to find Oliveras and learn what happened, adding that investigators believe they are getting closer to finding out what happened. The investigation remains unresolved as detectives narrow their search.
