COOPERSVILLLE, Mich. — Katie Ann Mikula calls the past few days stressful.
“There’s no closure, there’s no nothing,” said Mikula. “I will never look at a missing flyer again and not share it, not pass it on because it’s tough, it’s hard.”
Mikula’s brother, Erik Johnson, 28, went missing on Saturday.
According to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office he was last seen near Ottawa and Pine Streets in Coopersville around 5 p.m.
READ: Ottawa County deputies seek missing Coopersville man
Mikula says he was waiting for their other sister to pick him up and give him a ride to their parents’ house near Crockery Lake.
However, she could not find him when she arrived. Johnson’s family thinks he may have decided to walk home on his own.
“He has some mental issues,” said Mikula. “We think he wasn’t in a good frame of mind and when he gets like that he just paces, so we assume that he obviously called her, dropped the location, paced, said he was somewhere else, then continued to pace.”
Johnson is described as being 5’9" and 170 lbs with a shaved head, red beard, and blue eyes. He does not have a car and his cell phone is believed to be dead.
OCSO does not suspect foul play.
Mikula says it's unlikely her brother would harm himself.
The search for Johnson has spanned from the wooded areas near The Depot to Deer Creek at Center Street.
On Thursday, Michigan State Police flew their helicopter, but did not find anything.
Friday, Ottawa County deputies said they are continuing to investigate after turning up new evidence from surveillance video.
They say he was last seen near Danforth and Eastmanville streets at around 3:30 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 14.
In light of the new information, authorities say they conducted a thorough search of the surrounding area Wednesday and Thursday. They were unable to find Johnson in that time.
We're told Johnson may have been disoriented while seeking shelter from inclement weather that night.
Mikula says with nearly all of the city now searched, they are asking people to look in any outbuildings they own. She explains since they fall on people’s private land, search teams cannot check themselves.
“Cars, motor homes, travel trailers, barns, sheds,” said Mikula. “There’s a lot of houses in that area, a lot of outbuildings, and we need help. We need everybody to look.”
She calls it a simple gesture that can possibly bring her family answers.
“If this was your son, if this was your brother, your nephew, your best friend, you would want the same thing to happen,” said Mikula.
