Michael Russel Taus was 24 years old when he disappeared from West Islip, New York, on June 18, 2010. He has now been missing for over 16 years, and almost nothing about his case has ever made sense.
According to Taus’ parents, their son had been on several social networking sites during the third week of June, and he told his family he was heading out on a blind date with a woman he had met through an online dating site.
His mother, Barbara, later said she always teased him about meeting women online, telling him to share his plans so she would know if anyone ever kidnapped him. He laughed it off. She had no idea how close to the truth her joke would come.
When Michael never returned home, his family grew frantic. A search of his apartment turned up something strange. His pit bull, Romeo, was gone too, and so were the dog’s food and water bowls.
It looked less like a kidnapping and more like someone had packed up to leave, which only deepened the mystery. His pit bull dog, named Romeo, disappeared with him, along with the dog’s food and water bowls.
A Car Left Running for Days
The most baffling clue came nearly a week later. Suffolk police said Michael Taus’ car, a 2004 black Volkswagen Jetta, was found running in Elmont, New York, about 30 miles from his West Islip home.
Investigators were stunned that the engine could have stayed on for that long without running out of gas, and to this day, no one has fully explained it.
Police examined the vehicle closely. Inspector Gerard McCarthy said there was nothing to indicate the vehicle had been part of a violent scene, and he admitted Michael “seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.”
No blood, no struggle, no obvious sign of a crime. Just an empty car with the engine running and no driver in sight.
In the months that followed, Michael’s bank accounts and credit cards showed zero activity. His phone went dark and was eventually disconnected. There were no charges, no withdrawals, no calls.
For a 24-year-old man living a normal life one day, it was as if he simply stopped existing the next.
Police reached out to law enforcement across the region, but leads never materialized.
Authorities noted his physical description as six feet three, around 190 pounds, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pierced ears, details that have circulated on missing persons databases ever since.
Sixteen years later, true crime communities online are still picking apart the same questions his family asked at the start. Did investigators ever identify or speak with the woman he supposedly met that night? Did the date even happen, or did Michael use it as cover to disappear on his own terms? And why would anyone leave a car running for days in a town 30 miles from home?
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-852-6040 or 1-800-220-TIPS.
