By CHRIS JACKETT
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – A 38-year-old resident has been out of contact with his family since Aug. 6, and they are concerned.
Police have gotten involved in the search for Robert Brisbois, who last was seen leaving a friend’s house that day to meet a Monroe woman he had met online.
“There’s no foul play involved,” Wyandotte Police Chief Daniel Grant said Aug. 25. “He’s clearing his voice mail off, but he is not returning calls. We’re tracking him. We tried to ping his phone, but MetroPCS doesn’t have ping capabilities.”
Grant said police have spoken to people Brisbois’ cell phone has made calls to, and that many indicated Brisbois is still in the area.
“We know he’s been using his phone. We (have) some places we know he might be at,” Grant said. “When they see him, they’ll call and just let us know.”
On Aug. 31, Brisbois returned a phone call to police.
“We just found out on Tuesday he’s been up north and didn’t know anybody was looking for him,” Grant said Thursday.
However, an Aug. 13 status update on Brisbois’ Facebook profile said, “im ok no worries.” When family members questioned the status update, Brisbois responded, “im ok need some time alone” and “no phone service i swear im ok” within a few minutes before signing off and prompting family members to speculate whether someone else was updating Brisbois’ profile.
The previous status posting was made Aug. 6, the day Brisbois disappeared, and said “Tgif. Happy friday 2 everyone have a great weekend.”
Because Brisbois had not contacted his family for four weeks, they set up a search effort of their own. A Facebook group called “MISSING – Robert Brisbois” was created and had about 700 members Aug. 27, serving as a forum for discussion on how to find Brisbois or figure out what happened to him. The group was deleted Thursday, however.
Grant said Facebook was not accessed regularly by police during the search because the social networking Website is blocked on all computers throughout the station in an effort to deter employees from using it while on the job.
Records show Brisbois checked in at the Best Western Woodhaven Inn Aug. 6, but checked out early the next morning, at which point he couldn’t be tracked.
Standing about 5 feet, 10 inches, Brisbois is white, has brown hair, hazel eyes and tattoos of a lotus flower, a tiger, a koi fish and green and red dragons on his arms. He last was seen driving a silver 2002 Chrysler Voyager minivan with license plate number BQH9648.
“We know there’s been some activity with his cell phone, Facebook and even his Bridge Card,” Grant said. “We think he’s in the area.”
Brisbois has three young children and a police-documented history of multiple family fights in Southgate with his ex-wife throughout the past year. She now has a personal protection order against him.
(Contact Chris Jackett at [email protected])