Shoes and a bicycle found

MAT-SU — For 10 years, the only evidence of Michael Palmer has been a twisted bicycle and a wet pair of tennis shoes.

On June 3, 1999, the 15-year-old from Meadow Lakes snuck out of his house. According to Alaska State Trooper reports and Frontiersman articles from the time, he took his bike and met three friends headed to a graduation party. They made it to the party and left for the home of one of the kids around 4 a.m. Friday morning, his friends said.

The four started down Pittman Road toward the Parks Highway. Two of the riders pulled off ahead leaving Palmer and the third friend behind. The third friend peddled away to catch up to the other two, leaving Palmer by himself.

That was the last time he was seen.

The three friends eventually stopped and waited for Palmer for about 40 minutes. After he didn’t show, they headed home figuring he turned off for his home down Beverly Lakes Road.

His mother, Lisa Palmer, reported her son missing when he didn’t check in by 11 a.m. Friday. The search began, and the troopers turned up Palmer’s bicycle, twisted and partially submerged in the Little Susitna River by the intersection of Pittman Road. Road and Silver Drive. A pair of shoes the same size and type as Palmer’s were found neatly placed and wet by the bank. Rescue divers searched the river and the log jams, but nothing turned up.

Troopers continued the investigation after the search efforts were called off. They interviewed Palmer’s three friends and many of the people who were at the party, submitting a few to polygraph tests. The troopers followed every lead that came in, including a report of a car that was at the party that turned up in Valdez. Every one was a dead end, and most tips were anonymous, leaving the troopers nowhere.

Palmer’s father, Charles Palmer, took up the search himself. He hired two private investigators, the first left the state after being threatened, and the second said Palmer might have not left the party at all. This was one of the many rumors Charles had already heard. He left the state himself, worried about what he would do to anyone who threatened him.

Sergeant Leonard Wallner was the lead investigator on the case for many years. After finding nothing around every corner he looked, he was transferred to Anchorage and off the case in November of 2007. He said he hopes any new information that comes in would trickle down to him, but the pipeline has been silent for a long time.

Sergeant Mike Burkmire of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation said the case is still classified as open and will remain so until Palmer is found.

“We are still looking for leads, but nothing new has come in that we have looked in to for quite some time,” Burkmire said.

“The whole thing is tragic. It’s the same thing that happened in ‘89 with the [Scott] Borer kid. He’s never been found either.”

Melinda Stevens, the acting director of the missing children division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said the Palmer case has remained open and active for 10 years. In that time, it has been constantly monitored for tips and leads, which are then passed on to law enforcement and the family. Unfortunately, Stevens said, there has not been any recent activity.

“We maintain hope forever. That’s why we don’t close a case until we locate a child,” Stevens said. “We had a recovery just a few weeks ago of a child who had been missing for close to 30 years. Its a perpetual series of these occasions that gives you reason for hope.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.