Sunday, Nov. 01, 2009

Belleville man's brother vanishes without a trace

Ohioan not seen since July 2008

Family members believe Steven Moon escaped an unhappy life by doing what others only dream about -- he ran away.

The 58-year-old industrial filtration systems salesman, who kept the same job for 30 years, disappeared on July 25, 2008, from the Lakeview, Ohio, home he shared with his wife. He left his car keys and wallet behind.

Also left behind was a far-flung family, including two grown sons, one in Ohio and one in Virginia, a sister in Texas, his brother Barry Moon, who has lived for four decades in Belleville and operates the Old House Parts antiques shop on North High Street, and their mother, Mary Beth Powers, who moved here about eight years ago.

Barry Moon and Powers say they are mystified by Steven Moon's apparent decision to walk out on a warm summer evening and never return, saying only that he was going somewhere to "cool off" after an argument with his wife.

Detective Keith Levan of the Logan County Sheriff's Department in Ohio, located about 40 miles north of Cincinnati, said Steven Moon's disappearance is the "most aggravating" missing persons case he has investigated. Levan said suspicion of foul play, while a factor initially, is no longer suspected.

"I hope he is out there alive somewhere, but I just wish he would call and say, 'Hey, I'm OK. You can quit working on this,'" Levan said.

In the days following the disappearance, Logan County investigators dragged a nearby lake, sent helicopters up to scan surrounding woods, obtained a subpoena to search Moon's financial records and sprayed the interior of the home with Luminol, a chemical that reacts to even minute quantities of blood by glowing in the dark. Levan said they found nothing suspicious.

They also conducted a polygraph examination of Moon's wife. "She passed with flying colors," Levan said.

Through a family member, she declined to comment.

In February, Levan received a DNA saliva sample from Powers obtained by the Belleville Police Department, but only as a routine part of any missing persons probe. A mother's DNA profile is very similar to her child's. The sample from Powers will be analyzed and then entered into a national database maintained by the Department of Justice to be compared to unidentified deceased persons.

Another federal Justice Department database called NamUs contains 2,113 persons nationwide who are missing. Illinois has 28 missing persons and Ohio has 26 listed. Moon's name wasn't entered until July 30 of this year, a few days after the first anniversary of his disappearance. A spokesman said this is standard.

Part of what led Levan and family members to conclude that Moon planned to run away was a telephone call his wife and son received several days after her husband was last seen, Barry Moon said.

The call came from an employee of a nearby storage unit firm who said that the family's rented space had been broken into.

"We don't have a storage space," Barry Moon said his brother's wife told the employee, who responded, "Sure you do. It was paid for by Steven Moon. Here's the receipts right here. He used a MasterCard."

But Barry Moon said his sister-in-law told police that the couple did not have a MasterCard, and yet one existed.

That was the only charge on that MasterCard, Barry Moon said, adding that when police examined the storage unit the only thing inside was cardboard covering the floor and three empty Mason jars. There was no ready explanation for why Steven Moon would need to break into the unit.

Steven Moon's son Christopher Moon, 39, who lives with his wife about an hour's drive from where his parents lived in Lakeview, said his father's disappearance was a shock. He said during the first few days of the disappearance, he conducted his own search, believing his father might have had a heart attack.

"I looked for him for a couple of days in the cornfields," he said. But then, when the emptied storage unit became known, he realized there was a good chance his father wanted to disappear. And police also discovered an Internet account used by Steven Moon called "Bigstring.com" that allows a person to send e-mails through any computer that can then be deleted without a trace to the sender. That seemed further evidence that his father's leaving was planned, he said.

"I lean that he is alive. I love my dad. He's a really good man," Christopher Moon said. "It definitely is kind of wrong how he left things. That's the hard part. It might have been better to just get a divorce and move on in life."

He said that of the mementos he has of his father, the one he most prizes is an Eagle Scout medal engraved, "Be Prepared."

Barry Moon theorized that his brother was planning to disappear, and, being fond of older Japanese motorcycles, may have stashed a licensed and road ready bike in the storage unit along with clothes and other essentials. He said that several months before all this happened, his brother started calling every two weeks, a departure from his usual habit of calling only every few months.

"I started thinking that this is somebody who needs something. Something is askew here. I don't believe in coincidences," Barry Moon said. But he added that during the conversations his brother did not talk about any specific problems or about running away except that he was unhappy in his marriage.

Barry Moon said he talked to two metro-east private detectives he knows as friends who both said basically the same thing, "Your brother is a smart person. He planned this. He doesn't want to be found."

Levan, the sheriff's detective in Ohio, said the only lead that turned up on Steven Moon came from two employees of a nearby restaurant who told investigators they were certain he ate breakfast there the day after he disappeared from home.

"Whether it was him or somebody who looked like him, I don't know," said Levan, They said, 'Yes, it was him.'"

Levan said that on the day Steven Moon disappeared, there was "tension" between him and his wife. Barry Moon said the couple often argued.

Steven Moon, at least in a photograph posted online by the private North American Missing Persons Network, bears a strong resemblance to retired actor John Hillerman. who played Higgins on "Magnum P.I."

Barry Moon said the image looks like his brother. He agreed that it resembles Higgins.

As for where his brother Steven might be today, Barry Moon said he has only one theory, which he admits is pure speculation.

He said his brother talked fondly with other family members of fishing trips to Canada he took with prospective customers in the industrial filtration business.

"They told me that he said he might like to someday become a cook in a fishing camp," Barry Moon recalled, "It's not only hearsay, but hearsay several times removed. But it's all we have."