MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The search for 21-year-old Trenton Massey in Marquette has been suspended by law enforcement after three days of extensive efforts across land, water, and ice.
“We’ve been searching for the last four days here, and today, we officially concluded our search efforts. We utilized a lot of different resources; the sheriff’s department, search and rescue, Coast Guard, MSP, DNR, and I’m going to forget a few, but we’ve used everything that we could at our disposal. We came up short. We were not able to locate Mr. Massey,” said Marquette Police Chief Ryan Grim.
Marquette Police say the investigation began Sunday morning when Massey’s cellphone was turned in after being found along the city’s multi-use path near McDonald’s. Family members were notified, but by early afternoon, they reported Massey missing.
Police say Massey was last seen in person early Sunday morning at a bar in downtown Marquette.
City camera footage shows him walking east along the multi-use path near the U.P.H.S.- Marquette Hospital around 2:50 am. Then, around 3:35 am, Massey was seen on a 19 News SkyCam mounted atop One Marquette Place that captured Massey walking onto the ice from the north pier before disappearing from view. That remains the last known image of him.
WZMQ shared the footage with the Marquette Police Department, who were then able to focus their search on the founders’ Landing shoreline, where a hole in the ice was soon found, and subsequent underwater search efforts were begun at that site.
Search efforts resumed daily through Tuesday, focusing on Founder’s Landing, the lower harbor, downtown Marquette, Mattson Lower Harbor Park, and nearby neighborhoods. Hundreds of volunteers came forward to scour the land using poles to probe the newly fallen deep snow, searching for Trenton.
“We saw hundreds that came out, and some that knew him, some that didn’t. It just showed the empathy that our community has for this type of situation and the help that they’re willing to provide. And we ended up covering way more ground than we could have alone as law enforcement. They allowed us to do our job with our specialized equipment and training out in the ice and things like that, where we could be safe. And they really helped us out digging as much as we possibly could on the land-side,” said Chief Grim.
A university official told 19 News that at its height, more than 350 nmu students spent their snow day on Monday searching for their lost classmate. Because of the large number of volunteers, the police could focus on more targeted searches.
“I can’t thank them enough for that. We really couldn’t have covered the area that we did without those civilian volunteers, along with the professional help that I was able to get from other state local agencies. Said Chief Grim, “Everybody showed up to help, and everybody cares deeply about our neighbors and our friends. And it really showed this time. And I couldn’t be prouder to be the chief of a place like this.”
Crews searched on foot, on the ice, underwater, and from the air using scuba divers, sonar, drones, K-9 teams, hovercraft, airboats, and a helicopter.
Numerous local, state, and federal agencies assisted, along with volunteers and area businesses that provided warming stations and supplies. Chief Grim thanked everyone who came out to search for Trenton, noting they did so in the harshest of conditions.
“It’s been really, really rough conditions almost every day that we were there. If it were a little bit warmer than it was windy, but it was really, really frigid temperatures, and people showed up. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m proud of this community,” said Grim.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Massey has not been located. And though the search has been called off, police say the investigation remains ongoing, and they urge the public to avoid the ice and respect private property, as volunteer search efforts may continue.
The Marquette Police Department is asking anyone with additional information to please call them at 906-228-0400
