Concern over missing man's Facebook page updates By Chris Baraniuk

Technology reporter Published duration 17 October 2016

image copyright City of Anderson Police Department image caption The City of Anderson Police Department has issued a missing persons poster for Mr Carver and Ms Brown

Friends and relatives of a missing American man are concerned because his Facebook page has become active, but they have not seen him for more than a month.

Charlie Carver and girlfriend Kala Brown have been missing from Anderson, South Carolina, since 31 August.

The next day, Mr Carver's account announced he was now married to Ms Brown and other updates have since been posted.

Some think the account has been hacked.

Updates have included images of comic-book characters such as the Joker from Batman, pictures referencing Halloween and links to news stories about the missing couple.

However, the account has given blunt responses to inquiries from friends and family asking for confirmation that Mr Carver and Ms Brown are safe.

Ms Brown's account has remained dormant since her disappearance.

Jessica Lee, a friend, told the BBC that she was initially optimistic when she heard that Mr Carver's account had sprung into life.

"It filled us with hope," she said.

However, she now believes that the page has been hacked.

"The hacker started sharing our flyers and missing persons reports," she added, "mocking us.

"We grew up with Kala and she is our family."

'No leads'

At the local police station in Anderson, Lt Mike Aikens has been fielding reports of possible sightings and other tip-offs.

"Every day we get phone calls," he told the BBC. "This morning when I came to work I had three."

Despite that, he says they currently have no leads as to the couple's whereabouts.

Lt Aikens added that police were following a number of lines of inquiry, including tracking down phone records and requesting information from Facebook about how Mr Carver's account was being used.

"Hopefully we can find out several things, IP addresses and so on," he added.

Facebook said it did not comment on individual cases. The site does have a set of guidelines for law enforcement requests, however.

Lt Aikens implored the public to continue sending any information they have that might lead to news of the couple.

"We just want to make sure they're safe," he said.