The man who vanished on Christmas Day

Dec 13, 2009 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

By Michael Jordan

The pepperpot and black-cake were on the table…but where was Michael Harris?

I guess you know about the Marie Celeste, but if you don’t, that was the American ship whose captain, passengers and seven-man crew vanished without trace back in December 1872.
And that brings me to another December mystery, more recent and more close to home.
It began on the Christmas Day of 2008 at a two-storey house located at Lot 607 Hiponi Oval, Retrieve, Linden.
The bottom flat was occupied by Michael Harris, a 58-year-old contractor who was also the caretaker of the premises, which belonged to an overseas-based Guyanese. A female acquaintance of the owner lived in the top flat.
The story that relatives have been told is that sometime that day, Harris climbed onto his bicycle and travelled to Wismar, where he had a ‘Christmas drink’ with a friend. Word is that the contractor was once a hard drinker. But earlier in the year, an intoxicated Harris had tumbled off his bicycle and almost drowned in the Demerara River.

Wayne Harris

That had caused him to drastically reduce his alcohol consumption. So, when he met up with his friend at Wismar, Michael Harris reportedly only drank a malta.
According to reports, the contractor then rode to Poke Street, Wismar, where he had a drink with another friend. This time, it is alleged that he took a small amount of alcohol.
Mr. Harris reportedly then visited a third friend at Wismar/ Christianburg. The second friend would later tell relatives that Harris had passed his way again, and that he had observed that Harris’ clothes were soiled with mud. The friend concluded that Harris had fallen somewhere during his journey.
Later in the day, one of Harris’s sisters called his home to wish her brother a merry Christmas. When the landline rang out, she tried to reach him on his mobile phone, but no one answered.
About two days later, the relative again tried to contact Harris on the landline at his home. It is alleged that this time, the woman who lived in the upper flat informed the caller that Mr. Harris had gone out on Christmas day but had not returned. The concerned relative contacted Wayne Harris, one of the missing man’s sons.
Wayne Harris contacted another brother and they travelled to the home at Linden where their father resided.
Wayne Harris said that when they entered their father’s apartment, they found everything intact. There was pepperpot and black cake on the table.
According to Wayne Harris they visited the woman who lived in the upper flat. She reportedly revealed that she was in possession of the missing man’s mobile phone. Wayne Harris’ story is that the woman said that after his father failed to return home, she went into his flat and retrieved his phone.
Worried relatives then widened the search by checking at the hospitals and even in the cemetery for any sign of their missing father. They found none.
They placed advertisements on the radio and television. Callers responded by giving the family several leads about the contractor’s whereabouts. All proved to be false.
Wayne Harris said that about a month later, a man confided to them that he was scouring the abandoned mines for ‘metal’ to sell when he came across a bag, which appeared to contain human bones.
According to the son, this information was conveyed to ranks at the Mackenzie Police Station and they confirmed that the man had given them a similar report. But he alleged that the policemen claimed that they had checked the area but failed to find the bag of ‘bones.’
Harris said that he and other relatives checked the vast abandoned bauxite mines. They, too, found nothing. To date, not a trace of the contractor or his bicycle has been found.
Wayne Harris was less than complimentary when he spoke about the police efforts to locate his father. He alleged that the police ignored information that family members provided about two possible suspects. He’s convinced that someone murdered his father.
As another Christmas approaches, Wayne Harris says that family members plan to travel to Linden to honour the memory of their father, who disappeared on Christmas Day just as if the earth had opened up and swallowed him.

If you have any information about this unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News at our Lot 24 Saffon Street location.
We can be reached on telephone numbers 22-58465, 22-58491 or 22-58473.
You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].