Nashua Police Still Seeking Tips About Missing Manchester Man

NASHUA, NH — Michael McClain, 29, of Manchester, has been missing since the early morning hours of April 21, 2019. He was last seen at a lounge on West Hollis Street, where he was hanging out with friends, at just before midnight on April 20, 2019, and 1:30 a.m. the next day. In a parking lot near the lounge, there was a disturbance.

McClain was thought to have been involved in the disturbance but later, it was determined he was not involved, according to investigators. But after the crowd dispersed, poof, he was gone — and no one has heard from him since.

Police in Nashua don't deem McClain's missing person report as suspicious or a criminal case. It, according to Lt. Daniel Mederos, the head of the criminal investigation division, "is still an open investigation." But Mederos added, "at this point, with all of (our) findings, we do not believe his disappearance suspicious (or) criminal in nature."

Mederos said McClain's family was given an update with all the latest information about the investigation at the end of 2019.

"We updated them on all the things we have and provided them with a lot of information, which they have now," he said.

McClain, who is originally from Stamford, Connecticut, is 30, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall, with brown eyes, tattoos on his hands and arms, and braids in his hair. He was born and raised in Stamford where he graduated from high school in 2008. McClain has been living in Manchester since 2012 and has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

After the disturbance at the Tropical Lounge (now the Opus Lounge), friends waited for McClain for about 45 minutes and then, returned to Manchester.

There was a report of a sighting at a McDonald's Restaurant on East Hollis Street later that morning but it is unknown if that was accurate information.

Video surveillance footage from area cameras, however, captured McClain in the area of the Residences at Riverfront Landing apartment complex on Bancroft Street, walking out of a parking garage in the rear of the complex at around 3:30 a.m. on April 21, 2019.

On April 22, 2019, he didn't show up for work at the Easterseals facility in the Queen City, where he works with autistic children, and his cell phone was going straight to voicemail. McClain was reported missing after that — something that the family called unusual at the time.

One of the biggest problems with the investigation, Mederos said, was that while police have been "transparent with the family," about the case, that information hasn't gotten out to McClain's many friends and people concerned with the case, probably since the family "is not originally from this area." Since the McClain case is an open investigation, police are limiting what they reveal to the general public.

"(McClain's) folks and family aren't too close to his friends," Mederos said. "We hope that the family would discuss the case with his friends."

What Mederos can confirm is that McClain hasn't been located. Police have also spoken with every witness involved in the disturbance as well as others who knew him or offered tips. There has been some misinterpretation and "fourth-hand information, with false leads," Mederos said, but all of those have been investigated, too. Those false leads though have created more work for the department and more trauma for the family, he added.

"They see them as a viable lead," Mederos said. "Until (McClain's family) gets that closure, they can still hold out hope … and that's what every family deals with."

Mederos said one tip that has been confirmed was a phone call McClain made to a witness who reported that he sounded as if he were in distress. Many other tips have been corroborated but debunked. Since sitting down with the family, the department has received few leads. In recent months, the case has been less fruitful with the leads investigators have received.

"Until he is found," Mederos said, "this case will remain open (and) we'll investigate every active lead, and (work them) to the fullest determination."

Other Active Nashua Cases

The detective bureau has two other active missing persons cases: April Bailey, 36, who has been missing since Jan. 15 from the area of Lynn Street, and Michael Jones, 34, who has been missing since Jan. 17, 2019, from the Harbor Avenue area of the city.

The Bailey disappearance, he said, has no connection to the disappearance of Amanda Grazewski, 23, who was last seen on Birch Street in Derry, but previously lived in Nashua.

The Bailey, Jones, and McClain investigations, Mederos said, were "top priority cases," with assigned staff and active investigations.

"We're not giving up hope on them," he said, "and are not writing them off."

Anyone with information about these cases should call Nashua police at 603-594-3500.

For more information about the McClain case, visit the Find Mike McClain website.

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