Police this weekend solved part of a mystery that has been making national headlines — where did a 52-year-old Michigan father disappear to just after Christmas? But they are still investigating the rest: Why did he die?
Robert Bacon of Byron was reported missing on Dec. 30, after last being seen at a family gathering at the Bavarian Inn Lodge. His body was finally found Saturday afternoon in the icy Cass River near Heritage Park in Frankenmuth by a dive team.
The preliminary cause of death: Drowning.
It’s unclear, however, what he was doing near the river.
Bacon, a Navy veteran who also went by his middle name, Loren, reportedly had arrived at the hotel, a popular vacation destination, at about 6:40 p.m. on Dec. 27. He reportedly went to change and was going to meet one of his two daughters, ages 15 and 13.
And then, he vanished.
Since then, the nation has been captivated by Bacon’s disappearance, a mystery that has been reported by news outlets across Michigan and the nation, including People magazine, a New York tabloid, the Kansas City Star, and MSN and TV broadcasts.
Even The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, published a version of the sensational story.
Since Bacon’s disappearance was reported, the local police department said it — and more than a dozen other agencies — had frantically searched for him, even using dogs and drones to try to track and locate him.
But how Bacon — a 5-foot-7 guy with blue eyes and gray hair — ended up in the river is baffling. According to his ex-wife, Melissa McLenna, he was feeling upbeat and left the hotel undetected by surveillance cameras.
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She also told a TV station, however, that he liked nature and tended to “check things out.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, McLenna said that she had “no words to describe how we feel” and thanked “everyone that helped look for Robert thank you to all that prayed for us and that are continuing to pray for us.”
Not long after that, she added:
“I am turning off my phone we need to have time together without the phone. I just want to say thank you to everyone. we as a family really appreciate everything. We’ll have more updates as to the next steps soon.”
McLenna said earlier in the week in news reports that Bacon went to move his car, and that video shows him going to the inn’s fun center, but never exiting the building. Not all of the exits, she said, have cameras.
She also said their younger daughter said Bacon was in “a great mood,” and speculated that he might have gone outside because he loves nature, and, she added, she “wouldn’t put it past him to come outside to smoke a cigarette and walk along that river.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Body of Robert Loren Bacon found in icy river in Frankenmuth