By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published November 27, 2016

Family and police are searching for Mike Rollins, 32, who hasn't been seen since leaving his Grosse Pointe Shores home Nov. 23. Provided image


A Grosse Pointe Shores man’s mysterious disappearance just before Thanksgiving has left his family alarmed and baffled.

Michael “Mike” Rollins, 32, was last seen leaving his home on Vernier Road in Grosse Pointe Shores around noon Nov. 23 with his dog, an Italian mastiff named Tyson, said Rollins’ sister, Michelle Fleming. She said a neighbor saw Rollins and his dog drive off in Rollins’ black 2008 Chrysler 300C, but no one knows where he was headed, and none of his family or friends have seen him or heard from him since then.

Because he had his dog with him, she said they checked to see if he had gone to see the veterinarian or taken Tyson to the dog park at Balduck Park, on Detroit’s east side, but neither of those scenarios turned out to be true.

Fleming said Rollins is the father of a 5-year-old boy, who hasn't been told about his father's disappearance. Rollins is separated from his son’s mother, and Fleming said Rollins was supposed to pick up his son from the boy’s mother during the evening of Nov. 23, but Rollins never showed up and never called.

“Michael is a big part of the community and he’s very much loved by his family,” Fleming said of her brother, who she said is a “very hands-on" father. “He would never not call his son, and he would never be gone for days” without letting someone know where he was going to be, Fleming said.

“He wouldn’t just leave,” she said.

She said her brother has never disappeared before.

Rollins and his son were supposed to have Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ house, Fleming said.

“They’re worried sick about him,” Fleming said of her parents.

Rollins is a relocation specialist within the Army Community Services at the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command in Warren, but he was off at the time of his disappearance because of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. He formerly worked as an assistant to the Kids Club at Ferry Elementary School. Fleming said her brother wasn’t scheduled to return to work until Nov. 28.

She said she’s contacted dozens of hospitals throughout metro Detroit, and no one has reported a patient with her brother’s name or a John Doe matching his description. Although he had his cellphone with him when he left his house, she said the family wasn’t able to track his location because the phone battery apparently has died.

Because there was no evidence of an intrusion or foul play at his home, Fleming said Grosse Pointe Shores Public Safety — with whom the family filed a missing persons report — has had to classify this as a “voluntary missing person.” She said that also means the family has been unable to obtain a court order to determine his whereabouts using cell tower pings from his phone before the battery died.

Fleming said the Shores Public Safety Department has “been very helpful.”

“They have done everything they can,” she said.

Adding urgency to the search is the fact that Fleming said her brother needs to take medication daily, and he doesn’t have his medication with him.

Fleming said her brother has been working on his associate degree in general studies at Macomb Community College and is “very focused on his education.”

“He’s a great people person and very kindhearted,” she said.

Rollins is described as a white man who stands about 5 feet 11 inches tall and has blue eyes and a shaved head. His dog is a 100-pound gray Italian mastiff with green eyes that Fleming said is “very friendly.”

Police were unable to comment on the Rollins case, but there is an investigation.

“There is one ongoing right now,” Shores Public Safety Department Sgt. James Tassie said. “Unfortunately, that’s all I can say right now.”

Fleming has reached out to the community via Facebook in an effort to find her brother.

Anyone with more information can contact the Shores Public Safety Department at (313) 881-5500.