Brian Pincheon, a retired Fort Edward police officer, wanted answers about what happened to his friend Rick Hazelton. Hazelton went missing 33 years ago in 1986.

"I started going through all the John Does and trying to find Rick. I ended up hooking up with a detective in Nashville, Tennessee," Pincheon said.

Pincheon found a sketch of someone he thought looked a lot like Hazelton and with the help of the other detective, they tracked down some information. After years of not hearing from him, Hazelton’s family had him legally declared dead.

"We ended up finding Rick in Oregon," Pincheon said.

Hazelton was found this year in August.

"One day I got a letter in the mail that said, 'You're being investigated in a missing person's report,' and I thought, 'that can't be right, I'm not missing, this has gotta be a mistake,' so I threw it in the garbage. Two weeks later the cops came to the door," Hazelton said.

Not only was Hazelton not dead, he was alive and doing great. He tried being a street performer in New York City. From there he'd gone to Miami, caught an inexpensive flight to Colorado, then hitchhiked west.

"After that, I'd raised a family and all that and lived life, and then we moved to Oregon. I've been there for 20 years," Hazelton said.

Cell phones and social media weren't around back then, and Hazelton says he just fell out of touch with friends and family.

"I didn’t think anybody really cared, so I just made my own life and [lived] it," Hazelton said.

But they did. After exchanging letters with phone numbers, Hazelton called Pincheon.

"When I called them they were like, 'Oh, you're like back from the dead!' " Hazelton said in between laughs.

"It was for about three and a half hours and we just kept going on and on about childhood memories," Pincheon said.

After months of planning, Hazelton made his way back to Glens Falls to see his childhood friends once again. On Sunday, the group organized a game of kickball on the Ridge Street playground, where they used to play as kids.

"It's so heartwarming to feel the love we have here today for each other and how much we missed each other," Pincheon said.

"It's just got me flabbergasted, for lack of a better word. It's amazing," Hazelton said.

Hazelton is in town until after Thanksgiving, spending time catching up on the 33 years he’s missed.

"We've all changed a little bit; we're older now, we've got kids and families and all that, so it's like getting to know everyone again," Hazelton said.

And Pincheon has a message to others: "If you love somebody, don't ever give up on them. If you don't have an answer, keep going until you can find out what actually happened," Pincheon said.