MUSKEGON, Mich. — Family tells FOX 17 that Michael Farmer went missing near Jarman and Keating in Muskegon Heights on July 1.
A week later on July 8, just a short distance away in Muskegon, Farmer's body was found inside his vehicle on Fleming in between Winter and Kingsley.
La Shanna Farmer says her dad, Michael Farmer, isn't the type to up and leave. She has set up a GoFundMe to help raise funds for her father's funeral services.
“My dad is the type of person that’s going to tell the neighbors when he was going to go out of town," La Shanna Farmer said.
La Shanna's sister's mother contacted her on July 3, asking if she had heard from her dad, Michael. Texts and phone calls had been going unanswered, which was unusual, La Shanna said.
“I immediately went into panic mode. That’s not like my dad to not tell us if he’s going out of town. He never has his phone going to voicemail,” La Shanna said.
Things would turn out to be much worse. Farmer was found dead.
“Monday, July 8, I received a phone call. I was at work. I received a phone call … and they told me they had found his car in a alley. And he was in the car. I don’t... my mind ... went black," La Shanna said.
La Shanna remembered her dad with FOX 17.
“My whole family is still in, like… we can’t believe it. Like, why would someone want to do that to him? He was a laid-back, cool person. He was a father of four amazing children. He was a loving grandfather, of seven grandchildren. My dad loved to travel,” La Shanna said.
The men responsible have been caught, according to police. Two men, Robert Reed, 36, and Leland Snyder, 41, were charged with open murder.
Muskegon
2 men charged with murder in connection to disappearance of Michael Farmer
“It goes without saying that we don’t get to this point of being able to charge these two individuals with this crime, unless we have really great investigations by our law enforcement partners. And that’s exactly what we got,” Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson said.
La Shanna is searching for answers in Muskegon from her home in Texas. She wants her father's remains to be released so family can have a funeral.
“It didn’t matter if I called him, or he called me. Whenever we would... before we would hang up the phone, he would always say, 'I love you.' Always,” La Shanna said.
La Shanna says while her dad may no longer be missing, the truth behind what happened is.
“If you still know anything, any tips, anything else ... about this situation about my dad, please, please reach out to Silent Observer,” La Shanna said.
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