Searches To Resume For Wayne State Student Who Disappeared From Bar
OTISVILLE (WWJ) - Now that some of the snow and ice has melted, searches will resume for a missing Wayne State student, Ken Gruno, who disappeared from an Otisville hotel bar in December.
The team leader for the Shiawassee County Search and Rescue Team, Jeff Watson, said they're going to be looking at different areas, including around bodies of water, saying they want to rule out the possibility that the 27-year-old Gruno went into a nearby lake or pond.
"We are going to go back out once the ice is gone, and we are going to continue to search. Now that the snow and that's gone, we are going to be going back over some of the areas that we had searched when the snow was covered," he said. "We are goiong to key in around some water areas and some of the fields that were covered close to Otisville."
Gruno left his coat behind when he stepped outside of the Otisville Hotel Bar in Otisville, 70 miles north of Detroit — early in the morning of Dec.27 — telling friends he wanted to get some fresh air.
Video from a nearby store security camera shows Gruno walking in the middle of Jefferson Ave. around 1 a.m., but there are few other clues in the case.
Watson believes Gruno may still be alive.
"I believe that the gentleman was picked up by somebody; and whether it went bad...or he just doesn't wanna be found," Watson said. "That has happened in several cases that we have worked on, where the individual has been found — sine if them up to two years later."
Those searches will begin next weekend.
Gruno is described as a white male, 5'11" tall and about 175 lbs. with blue eyes, dirty-blonde hair and large sideburns. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a gray flannel shirt with a vest and colorful bowtie, and slip-on work boots.
He attended WSU in Detroit, but grew up in Otisville.
Anyone with information on Gruno's whereabouts is urged to contact police at 810-732-1111.
