Nearly four months after Michael McLendon disappeared, investigators have located his SUV but have not established where he went after it became stuck near the Red River. The vehicle, a dark green 2004 Ford Expedition, and searches along the levee and river have not produced a confirmed account of what happened, NBC News reported.
Evidence places the vehicle, not McLendon
McLendon, 51, was last seen leaving a Pineville hotel early on June 20, 2026, according to his wife’s account relayed through the LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Office and reported by NBC. Investigators reviewed his bank, social media and phone records and found no activity after the day he disappeared, the outlet reported.
Landscapers found the Expedition about a month later in a ravine beside a Red River levee in the Alexandria-Pineville area. Investigators reviewed security footage that appeared to show the SUV traveling along the levee, sliding or reversing down the embankment, then becoming stuck as it tried to climb back up, according to NBC’s account of the investigation. McLendon’s wallet was inside the vehicle; his dead cellphone, with a cracked screen, was outside it. Those findings do not establish where he went next.
Search crews checked both directions along the levee, used dogs on nearby ground and sent boats along the river’s edges, but did not find him, NBC reported. LaSalle Parish Sheriff Lane Windham told the outlet that searching by dragging the river would be nearly impossible given its size and conditions. He did not rule out the possibility that McLendon entered the water; that remains an unconfirmed possibility, not a finding.
National records offer scale, not a prediction
Federal figures help explain the scale of missing-person recordkeeping but cannot indicate what happened in this particular case. The FBI reported 88,093 active missing-person records in the National Crime Information Center as of Dec. 31, 2025. During 2025, 498,038 records were entered and 503,409 were purged. The FBI says purges can include records for people who were located or returned home, as well as records deemed invalid; these are counts of record activity, not a measure of outcomes in McLendon’s case.
For Louisiana, the LSU FACES Laboratory says its Louisiana Repository is a public, searchable database of missing and unidentified people. A separate case reported by the Louisiana Illuminator illustrates one possible identification pathway, not a parallel to McLendon’s disappearance: Lester Rome went missing in 1984, and remains found in a Sabine Parish well two years later were later linked to him through forensic work. Recovery of additional remains allowed the coroner to officially identify him. That different case does not establish what happened to McLendon.
Investigators seek information
The LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Office describes McLendon as 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 160 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and multiple tattoos. His family believes he weighed significantly more when he disappeared; the discrepancy has not been resolved. The office asks anyone with specific sightings or other information to call 318-992-2151.
