I was watching America's Most Wanted last night (somehow I fit in TV every now and then :) and I saw a second airing of the missing Charlotte man, 25 year old Kyle Fleischmann. His story saddened me, he was last seen leaving a bar in downtown Charlotte, NC at 220am on the evening of November 8, 2007. It is obvious he was intoxicated, as he left his jacket and never closed out his tab. His friends left the bar earlier but he wanted to stay and chat with some girls, so his friends left him behind with no way of getting home (he took a cab downdown). He made one call right before leaving the bar at 220 to his sister, who missed the call. Video surveillance caught him walking out of the bar at 220 and walking down to a pizza joint. One of the employees later came forward that he remembers Kyle coming in and ordering pizza, went to the bathroom, came back and picked up his pizza. Then the store got busy and he never saw Kyle after that. At 328, he called his best friend with whom he'd been with that night and left his car at his house, but his friend was already asleep and missed the call. One minute later he called his roommate, who didn't pick up either. No messages were left. His cell phone activity ended at 4am and Kyle hasn't been heard from or seen since that night. Mass searches were conducted by his friends and family but it wasn't a priority for the police because he is a grown man.
His story catches my eye because I remember many nights being in downtown Gainesville after the bars closed (granted, not by myself, ever!) I called Patrick last night and made him promise me that he would always stay safe and never wander around by himself after a night out drinking at the bars. He quickly told me that he would never and never has done that. It's just so scary to me to think about the world we live in. Kyle obviously needed a ride home and met up with the wrong person that night. Think about it, its 330am, no businesses are open, he may not have known a cab company's number off hand. He may have tried to walk home!
His family has created the Kyle Fleischmann Foundation at
http://www.helpfindkyle.com/ and they're focused on raising awareness for other people about safety and preventing this from happening to anyone else. My heart goes out to them, I can't imagine what it's like to not know what happened after those phone calls were made. And can you imagine how those individuals feel now? Not one had their cell phone within ear shot. And how many times has one of your friends wanted to stay at the bar after you leave and you say to yourself, "he'll be alright, he's a big boy."
