State police divers search the Winooski River in Montpelier, Vermont, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006. Divers found a truck belonging to a missing man in the river on Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)
AP
Nearly 16 years after a 34-year-old Vermont man disappeared, new evidence has been found that could help close the case, according to state officials.
Donald Messier of Waterbury, a rural town in Northern Vermont, was last seen on October 15, 2006at a party in a nearby town, according to Vermont State Police.
He didn’t show up for work the following Monday, and his family, who said he was depressed and potentially suicidal, reported him missing three days later, according to police.
Messier, an employee of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, was in the in the midst of a divorce at the time of his disappearance, according to the local Barre Montpelier Times Argus newspaper.
“But he was joking, talking to us about the future and making plans,” his sister told the newspaper.
After years of searching and renewed interest, the case went cold last year on the 15th anniversary of his disappearance. Police said they were got some tips years, but nothing major, according to the Valley Reporter.
But on Oct. 5, about a week after Messier’s 50th birthday, a group of divers told investigators that they recovered a truck believed to be his on the bottom of the Winooski River, which flows into Lake Champlain, Vermont State Police said in a news release.
Photos posted online by Waterbury Roundabout show a diver keeping twisted and blackened A Vermont license plate that was removed from the truck.
The divers said license plate matches Messier’s, according to MyChamplainValley.com, and Waterbury Roundabout said the truck “was confirmed to be his vehicle.”
Police have not said if any remains were found inside the vehicle. The scene remains active and the investigation is in its early stages.
“We are done for the day and will remain on scene overnight and return in the morning with our scuba team to continue searching the river,” a Vermont State Police public information officer told McClatchy News.
A former colleague of Messier called in a public Facebook group Forever friends of Donnie Messier wrote “[I] miss his laugh and he had such a great smile and I can tell he was a great friend.”
In response to the news of the truck being discovered, Sean Corbeil wrote: “Hopefully they can finally solve this which will allow the family to get answers and healing; Donnie was a great guy.”