A decades-long mystery has finally come to an end for 57-year-old Michael Carroll. After his father Korean War veteran George Carroll disappeared in the 1960s, Michael wanted answers. But he and his three siblings never learned anything about George’s disappearance. Nevertheless, the mystery haunted them all for the rest of their lives – until now when Michael may have stumbled upon the answer to it all.
Michael’s mother Dorothy always told the kids that George probably just picked up and left them all alone. She claimed it happened when he went out to buy cigarettes one day and never came back. But in the back of his mind, Michael sensed that his mother was lying to her children. He just felt that something else had happened.
Although his mother had her story, others revealed their takes on what happened to George the veteran. Some even suggested that his body was chopped up and buried in the basement. That story always sent shivers up Michael’s spine.
Years later, Michael felt that he needed to follow up with this claim. He hired a company that possessed ground-penetrating radar equipment. It cost him an arm-and-a-leg, but he shelled out the cash because he knew it would give him peace of mind. When the results came back, he could not believe it. There was definitely something there that shouldn’t be. They told him where to dig, and he got to work.
Then on October 30, 2018, Michael found something shocking. He unearthed a skeleton in the basement of his childhood home in Lake Grove, Long Island, New York. And when police got a good look at the skeleton, they determined that the skull had been cracked with blunt-force trauma. The person buried in that basement could certainly have been murdered. But police are not positive. They say the fractures could have occurred after the death.
Michael believes that the bones were his father. He now waits for the DNA test results to get back. Authorities claim that the bones might not have enough DNA in them to make an authoritative match, but Michael feels it in his bones that this man is his missing father.
“This is almost a perfect crime,” Michael said. “But I wasn’t supposed to find him.”
George Carroll bought the Long Island home in 1955. He lived there with his wife Dorothy and their four children. When he “disappeared,” Dorothy held onto it until she sold it to Michael years later.
Carroll believes that a man named Richard Darress (pictured) killed his father. His mother Dorothy later married Richard.
Unfortunately for Carroll both Darress and his mother are dead. The truth might have died with them because he suspects they both knew George was buried in the basement.
“She doesn’t come off smelling like a rose,” he said. He also said that when he and his siblings asked about their father, she would also say, “Don’t ask, it’s not important.”
But their missing father was important to them. And now Michael might get the closure he has needed all his life.
Michael credits the numerous psychics and ghost hunters he has worked with over the years for helping him find the human remains in his basement.