Man with ties to Elgin missing in Michigan
A contingent of about a dozen people from the suburbs, including Elgin and Schaumburg, is helping in the search for a man missing in Michigan.
Thomas Sexton, 29, lives in Detroit and has strong ties to Elgin, where he'd been staying with his mother Ramona “Monie” Burns and his younger brother during the COVID-19 pandemic. The family went earlier this month to a cottage in Sawyer, Michigan, where Sexton went missing Monday evening, his mother said.
“People have come from all over the country,” Burns said. “Last night we must have had 40 people. They form different groups that go out and search.”
Sexton is described as 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, with scruffy facial hair and neck/shoulder length dark brown wavy hair. He last was seen walking with his dog and a ukulele toward the Shorewood Hills beach in Sawyer, Michigan. The dog was found by a local resident.
Michigan media describes Sexton as being from Illinois because his driver's license has an Elgin address, his mother said.
Bloodhounds followed Sexton's scent, which led to video of him recorded via a Ring doorbell camera, according to a Facebook post by the Chikaming Township Police Department. That was Thursday night, relatives said. There also were two possible sightings in the last 14 hours in Union Pier, Michigan, his mother said.
Sexton, a musician and artist, has ties to Side Street Studio Arts, has performed at Rediscover Records and Blue Box Café, and for a time worked at ReStore Habitat for Humanity, all in Elgin. He has never disappeared before and is typically a good-spirited, friendly person, his family said.
“He's a wonderful guy. He's so personable, so caring,” said his grandmother Nancy Waichler of Oak Park who was the last relative to see him Monday.
The search is being coordinated by Sexton's uncle Joe Podlasek, CEO of Trickster Cultural Center in Schaumburg. “It's difficult but we've been having some luck. We do know he's alive."
Anyone who spots Sexton is asked to call police at (866) 630-7679. Anyone who wants to join the search can visit the “Operation Find Tommy Sexton” Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/714257709138077 or call (630) 514-4007.