DULUTH – Three men remain missing in fairly remote parts of the Northland this holiday season with no apparent clues to their whereabouts, as authorities insist the unrelated cases are still active and families hope for miracles.
The men went missing months ago in three very different cases in different parts of the North Country, but agree their cases remain completely unsolved.
Despite searches by trained teams on foot and in all-terrain vehicles, as well as the use of sniffer dogs, drones and more, all three men appear to have disappeared without a trace.
“The search continues,” said Rick Slatten, captain of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad.
Jeremy Lawrence.
Contribution / Debbie Lawrence
Lawrence, 39, of Mountain Iron, was last seen the evening of Aug. 20, driving his yellow Can-Am ATV north from the Duluth area. He hasn't been seen or heard from since. He was last seen on video camera footage near Island Lake around 6:30 p.m. that evening, apparently heading north home to Mountain Iron after visiting a friend in a Duluth hospital.
His worried parents and two small children are still waiting for new clues.
The children come first. … We pray with them every night that their father will come home. But at this time of year it's just so horrible that they don't know where their father is or if he's coming home. We're all still waiting, hoping he'll call or come in.
Debbie Lawrence
The case seemed unusual from the start, as Lawrence drove that four-wheeler from his home in Mountain Iron to Duluth to visit a friend at Essentia Health-St. to visit. Mary's Medical Center. His mother said it was because his car wasn't working. After leaving the hospital, Jeremy called his mother to say he was on his way home and then left Duluth heading north.
Video cameras captured him driving along Rice Lake Road near Martin Road and then again near the Island Lake Inn. But he hasn't been seen since.
Lawrence's parents are offering a $3,000 reward for information about where he is or what may have happened. However, Duluth police refused to release details about the case, saying almost all of the information came from Lawrence's family. Police never released a description of Lawrence and never asked the public for help finding him.
“This is still an active investigation involving multiple agencies,” Mattie Hjelseth, public information officer for the Duluth Police Department, told the News Tribune earlier this week.
Debbie Lawrence, Jeremy's mother, said she hadn't heard any new information from police in months.
“If they know anything more, don’t tell us,” she said. “But I feel like that’s not the case.”
The family used money from a GoFundMe fundraiser to hire a private investigator. But this investigator has also come away empty-handed so far.
“We keep asking ourselves, 'How can someone just disappear like that?'” Debbie told the News Tribune, pointing out that Jeremy's children, ages 9 and 10, who live with Debbie and her husband, are hit hardest by the man's plight are affected by ignorance.
“The children come first. … We pray with them every night that their father will come home. But it's just so horrible at this time of year that they don't know where their dad is or if he's coming home,” Debbie said. “We’re all still waiting, hoping he’ll call or come in.”
Aside from multiple deployments by the St. Louis County Rescue Squad – and searches by ATV club members, friends and family – nothing has turned up on any side roads or trails in the area. It's only about 60 miles from Island Lake to Mountain Iron, but it's a fairly remote area, including Cloquet Valley State Forest, with few homes and dense forests. The area is crisscrossed by many logging roads and ATV trails, making it difficult to trace exactly where Lawrence may have gone.
Glenn Stevenson.
Post / St. Louis County Sheriff's Office
Stevenson, 63, of Willow Valley Township near Gheen, remains missing in northwest St. Louis County. Stevenson was last seen at about 9:52 a.m. Sept. 2 on Willow River Road, about a quarter-mile south of Gheen. Friends had described him as unusually argumentative and agitated that morning after visiting a friend in Cook.
A ping from Stevenson's cellphone indicated it was in the Gheen area after that time, but it could have been anywhere within a 3-mile radius and Stevenson did not answer the phone. It is not known whether he had it with him at the time of his disappearance.
Despite multiple searches by the St. Louis County Rescue Squad, no evidence of Stevenson's disappearance was reported.
Stevenson, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and appears to be delusional according to published reports, is about 5 feet tall and weighs about 130 pounds. He was last seen wearing a t-shirt under a green and blue flannel shirt and blue jeans.
Philip Johnson.
Post / Douglas County Sheriff's Office
Johnson, 37, of Nashville, Tennessee, was reported missing to the Nashville Metro Police Department on October 18.
A related 2007 white PT Cruiser was discovered submerged in mud and abandoned in Brule River State Forest on a trail off Brackett's Corner Road around November 6th. Local hunters in the area indicate the vehicle may have been there since October. 23. The site is located just off Wisconsin Highway 13, near Lake Superior, approximately 20 miles east of Superior.
“We searched the area on foot, with K-9s and drones and followed up on many leads,” Douglas County Sheriff Matt Izzard told the News Tribune earlier this week, with no more found. “Although the initial missing person report came from Tennessee, the investigation here is ongoing so I cannot comment further.”
The PT Cruiser owned by Philip Joshua Johnson of Nashville, Tennessee, was found submerged in mud in Brule River State Forest east of Superior in November. An extensive search of the area revealed no trace of Johnson. He has been missing in Nashville since October 18th and there has been no evidence of his whereabouts since this vehicle was found by hunters.
Post / Douglas County Sheriff's Office
In a recent Facebook post, Johnson's wife Hannah re-released the information that her husband may have flown to Helena, Montana, where he is originally from.
“Philip was having some issues prior to his disappearance and his family is concerned for his well-being,” the post said.
“This is my husband, he is still missed and very loved,” Hannah Johnson posted.
Johnson, who owns and operates a window cleaning business with his wife, originally left Nashville in his own company truck, a black 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. That truck has still not been found. Authorities believe he bought the PT Cruiser the day after his disappearance due to what authorities call “mental health issues.”
According to the National Missing And Unidentified Persons System, 24,055 people were reported missing across the United States as of Wednesday, December 20th.
- If you have any information about Jeremy Lawrence, call Duluth police at 218-730-5400. A fund has been set up on gofundme.com to support the family's search efforts.
- If you have any information about Glenn Stevenson, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office asks you to call 911 and reference case number 23-129421.
- If you have any information about Philip Johnson, contact the Douglas County Sheriff's Office at 715-395-1230.
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