Michael John Olson - 46 years missing
Michael, 20, was last seen in West Palm Beach, Florida at around 5 a.m. on December 1st, 1979 when he dropped a friend off at their van parked at the Baptist Church on the corner of Cherry and Congress ave. He said he'd see him at work in the morning, then drove away, presumably back to his hotel.
He and his maroon 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix, with a tag on the bumper for Miller Motor Company of Austin, MN, were never seen again.
Several weeks before his disappearance, Michael traveled to West Palm Beach from his home in Edina, Minnesota to take time off from school. He was a student at the University of Minnesota, studying business. While in Florida, he got a job as a bag boy at the Presidents Country Club located around 2400 Presidential Way. He was staying temporarily at the Howard Johnson's hotel on Okeechobee Boulevard, now the location of the El Dorado Furniture store.
The day before he disappeared was his day off from work. He played golf, then went to a rental agency trying to find a permanent place to live. At 6 p.m., he went to the dog track with coworkers, a mile from his hotel, to watch some races. It is known he placed some bets but it isn't clear how much he won or lost. Michael and his friends went to a bar called the Wildside Lounge (2440 Okeechobee Blvd) after the track closed and watched a boxing match on television, then went to another bar called Mr. G's (3342 Shawnee Ave), staying until closing time at 4 a.m. on Dec 1st. His friends stated he didn't drink very much. At 5 a.m., Michael was last seen driving away after dropping one of his friends off where he parked his van at the Baptist Church.
When Michael missed work later that Saturday, his friends called his hotel and got no answer. They drove to the hotel that night and his car wasn't there. It didn't appear that he had been back to the hotel. Michael was said to have been happy with the way things were going. He had just cashed his paycheck and a $700 check his parents sent him, he may have been carrying up to a few thousand dollars when he disappeared. He wasn't involved with drugs and his family stated even if he had gotten in trouble, such as by gambling away all his money at the dog track, he wouldn't have been afraid to ask them for help.
Since 2022, several sonar search groups have scanned bodies of water for Michael and his car. Sunshine State Sonar frequently returns to the area and have located dozens of other vehicles, including three submerged in a retention pond on the property of Keiser University.
M
- Date Discovered
- Dec 1, 1979
- Location
- West Palm Beach, Florida
- Relevance Score
- Your Role
- Just an Amateur Sleuth
- Life Status
- Unknown
- Last Known Location
- He dropped a friend off at their van parked at the Baptist Church on the corner of Cherry and Congress Ave in West Palm Beach, Florida. He said he'd see him at work in the morning, then drove away, presumably back to his hotel. He and his maroon 1979 Pontiac Grand Prix, with a tag on the bumper for Miller Motor Company of Austin, MN, were never seen again.
