The Deck - Craig Frear (Queen of Hearts, New York)

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

Our card this week is Craig Frear, the Queen of Hearts from New York.Craig Frear seemed to have everything a teenage boy could want — a loving family, lots of friends and girlfriends, and skills on the soccer field. But after he vanished in broad daylight from a small village in upstate New York in 2004, police learned that he had been keeping secrets. And like Craig... this story is filled with contradictions.If you have any information about the disappearance of Craig Frear, please contact Troop G of the New York State Police at [phone] or [phone]. You can send them a confidential tip by emailing [e-mail] You can also call the New York State Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-3543. To learn more about The Deck, visit www.thedeckpodcast.com. To apply for the Cold Case Playing Cards grant through Season of Justice, visit www.seasonofjustice.org Follow The Deck on social media and join Ashley’s community by texting [phone] to stay up to date on what's new!

Our card this week is Craig Freer, the Queen of Hearts from New York. In 2004, Craig seemed to have everything a teenage boy could want, loving family, lots of friends and girlfriends, and skills on the soccer field. But after he vanished in broad daylight from a small village in upstate New York, police learned that yet been keeping secrets. And like Craig, this story is filled with contradictions. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. There's no better way to kick off summer than with a barbecue, and that's exactly what was on the agenda for Bill and Veronica Freer on a warm Sunday afternoon in the summer of 2004.

They had invited some of their extended family to join them. It was June 27th, and they planned to celebrate their daughter's upcoming birthday. But first, Veronica had to get some groceries. So she swung by the local price chopper to shop. It was a bonus that she'd get to say hi to her 17-year-old son Craig, who worked their part-time in the dairy department. She knew he'd be there because, according to Jerry Jerry Gretsinger's reporting for WNYT, when Craig got home from a sleepover that very morning he had grabbed his work shirt and told

her he was going to his job. But to her surprise, when she got to the dairy department, Craig wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere in the price chopper Veronica was confused and since Craig didn't have a cell phone She did what parents used to have to do when their kids went MIA The moment she got home she started calling around to his friends houses looking for him It took her a few calls, but she was able to finally track him down He was with a friend and they were at that guy's job. He told her everything was fine.

He was just running late for his shift and he was just about to head over to the store. But Veronica was suspicious. So she asked Bill to stop by the price chopper again. Sure enough, Craig still wasn't there. And when Bill spoke with an employee, he learned that his son hadn't been to work in a month, if not longer. He had just stopped coming in, and eventually managers took him off the schedule.

Now we tried reaching out to Craig's family in several different ways, but we were never able to get in contact with them. But we did find an interview Veronica did with unfound podcast host Ed Denzel back in 2017, and she said they were stunned. Craig was normally pretty responsible, and at least in her opinion this wasn't like him. And most confusing of all, where had he gone, all those times that he said he was going to work? I don't know all of the emotions

running through bills and Veronica's heads in that moment, but I imagine confused and mad were two of the most predominant. They had questions for their son, questions that they wanted answers to now. So Bill went out to look for their son, questions that they wanted answers to now. So Bill went out to look for his son while Veronica made another round of calls. Everyone she talked to said they hadn't seen him and didn't know where he was. But she got a vibe from one of the girls that she called, like maybe she wasn't telling

the truth. So she rang her again. This time the girl who were gonna call Alicia Apologized and admitted that Craig was there. She had basically lied at his request and she put him on the phone Here's James Castelline an investigator with the New York State police Mom talks to Craig Right around 130-ish and that's when he kind of confirms. Tell us what's going on at a price shop or they lost his job there. According to Times Union reporter Pete Ayurizzo, Craig promised he'd

explain when he got home, which would be soon since Alicia lived less than 10 minutes from the Freer's house. But when Veronica updated Bill, he was having none of it. He wasn't about to just sit around and wait. He drove over to the apartment complex, Alicia lived in, to try and intercept Craig as he was leaving. Now he didn't know exactly where in the complex, Alicia's unit was, but he found his son's car,

parked in one of the lots and just stood by it, waiting for him to come out. Now, I don't know if your dad has ever been waiting for you like fully pissed, but I can like feel the steam coming out of Bill's ears Just thinking about it. The worst thing you can do in that situation is make dad wait at least for me. I'd have been Hustling to my car, but Craig was nowhere in sight. After a little while, Bill called Veronica from his cell,

so she reached out to Alicia again, telling her to relay to her son, he better get his butt downstairs. But Alicia said, Craig had already left. As far as she knew, he was going home. Now, little did Bill know, Craig had actually parked his car in front of a building that was a few hundred feet from Alicia's, so Bill didn't see Craig come out. But I think Craig saw Bill, because Alicia watched Craig walk toward his car car but said that he abruptly turned around.

When Veronica learned this, she figured he was probably walking home via the railroad tracks that run along the back of the complex. She told Unfound that from the tracks, you can cut through the woods and end up in their backyard. There was a defined path that Craig used all the time. She said it would be quicker for him to walk than to drive. Though, for what it's worth, state police told us that that's actually not the case. The complex is a mile and a half

from Craig's house as the crow flies, so walking would probably take mile and a half from Craig's house as the crow flies, so walking would probably take at least a half hour, and the drive is less than 10 minutes. Plus, they say there's a swampy area between the tracks and the freer's yard. At least, there is now. At any rate, Veronica and Bill assumed Craig would walk in the door any minute, but when a few hours passed with no sign of him, they thought he was lying low because he knew he was in trouble, maybe he didn't want to face the music yet.

But the tone of that music changed as the sun went down. According to CBS reporter Barry Leibowitz, more calls revealed that none of his friends had heard from him, and that's when panic started to set in. Now Craig had run away before, although police say the number of times is in question. We know that there's at least one maybe twice that has happened. But he had come home in the past, and his parents realized he didn't have the means to go anywhere. The Times Union reported that they found his wallet

and 40 bucks in his room. They doubted he had much money on him. He didn't have a change of clothes, and his car was still at Alicia's. When they picked it up later that day, they learned he didn't even have his backpack because that was still in the car. They spent the rest of the day into the night driving around looking for him. And the more they searched, the more worried they became. There is conflicting information about the date that they reported him missing. I've read that Veronica flagged down a patrolman that Sunday night, or the early morning hours of Monday, June 28th. But investigator Casteline said that it happened on Tuesday, 29th.

Whichever day it was, Veronica told Unfound that she was given the run-around from the beginning. The village of Scotia, where Alicia's complex was, is in the town of Glenville. But each jurisdiction has its own police department. Since Craig lived in Glenville and was last seen in Scotia, Veronica was basically bounced back and forth between the two departments as they tried to figure out who was going to handle the case. Finally, it landed on Scotia PD.

And Veronica didn't feel like they were taking it seriously. She said they basically told her that Craig would be home when he was ready. After all, it was summer, it was graduation weekend, so there were a ton of parties going on. Craig had just finished his junior year, but he had plenty of friends in the class of 2004. I mean, he had just gone to a party on Saturday and had planned on going to another Sunday. But that to Veronica was all the more reason for them to take his disappearance seriously, because apparently he never showed up to that Sunday party. But officers told Veronica he was probably just out having fun.

So it wasn't until Friday, July 2nd that police officially entered the Missing Person's report in their system. By then, Craig had been gone nearly a week and his family was frantic. We don't know much about those early days and weeks of the investigation because state police didn't become involved until August that year. because state police didn't become involved until August that year. Investigator Casteline told us that ScotiA with help from Glenville PD did a lot of ground searches, especially around the railroad tracks. I know that there were many places that were thought of he could be in every place that was thought of as checked, it was obviously negative results. The friars were relieved when state police stepped in to help.

We're assisting Skillshare, interviewing family, friends, co-workers, fellow students, faculty at the school, trying to paint a picture of who Craig was. The problem was that picture was blurry. was that picture was blurry. Police learned Craig had plenty of stuff to look forward to. He was about to start his senior year. He had just been named co-captain of the varsity soccer team and he was planning for college. He had never been in any kind of trouble before and he seemed to close with his family and friends.

But the strange thing was, no one person knew all of Craig. After we're conducting all these interviews with people, we find that there's different versions of Craig that everybody knows. He was not being completely honest with any one person, but what was going on. Each person we interviewed was something a little bit different. We know it was a bright kid, athletic, friendly, but obviously there were some inner demons that he had.

Finding out what those demons were, where they stemmed from, was easier said than done. Some people told police it might have to do with his love life. They said he was upset about a recent breakup. But some said he wasn't upset. Others still said there was no breakup. We know that he had multiple different girlfriends. Each one of them thought that they were the one. Now that's not exactly scandalous for a teenager, but it made for a challenging investigation. Take Alicia, for example.

She's been referred to in the media as Craig's ex-girlfriend, also his new girlfriend, his long term girlfriend, and just his girlfriend. And all of that is probably because investigators themselves weren't even sure which category she fell into. Different people told them different stories. A lot of the information that we have, it's from what Craig was telling people and it was a lot of conflicting information. As Craig's family thought back, they saw little red flags that something had been bothering

him lately. But they only seemed like red flags that something had been bothering him lately. But they only seemed like red flags in hindsight. For instance, Veronica told Unfound that Craig spent the last quarter of his junior year working with younger kids for a school mentorship program. His teacher thought he did a great job, but he never turned in his end of year assignment, which was out a character for him. Then there was a recent soccer banquet for his team.

That was the night that he was named co-captain, and after the dinner his friends went out to celebrate, but even though he was normally very sociable, he didn't want to go. He just stayed home instead. But the biggest red flag was the fact that he stopped going to his price chopper job. The store was known for being flexible with students, and they never gave Craig a hard time when he had to cut back on his hours for school or soccer or whatever. And he had worked there for two years and never mentioned any problems. And here's the kicker, investigators learned that most of his friends, and I'm talking

people that he had been close with for years, didn't even know that he had stopped going to work, let alone why. I mean, it's not unheard of for a teenager to lie to their parents, but to be lying to friends too, it's just not what you expect. Police were baffled. None of this made any sense. The Freers consulted with psychologists who reportedly warned them that if Craig had run away,

a big public search could maybe scare him off and stop him from coming home. So according to Mary Martiale of the Daily Gazette Law Enforcement waited until August 15 to issue a media alert. By then, locals already knew Craig was gone, but no one seemed to know anything else. Months passed in a flurry of grief and fear, and tips that had started out promising ended up leading nowhere. The family would get calls when human remains were located,

and once they even waited anxiously as police searched an old landfill. After multiple psychics reported visions of Craig being killed in a similar setting. The family was even a victim of a cruel prank by a man who told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Craig was alive. He just didn't want anything to do with them. But every bit of hope was dashed. Each time Craig wasn't found. All they could do was channel their pain into action, organizing ground searches, posting flyers, and offering a reward. But they didn't think that Scotiapolese were doing nearly enough to find their son. So about four months after he disappeared,

they hired a private investigator. The PI found out that Craig's behavior had started to change around March when he apparently made concerning comments to some friends about being depressed. State police say a witness told them Craig mentioned previous thoughts of harming himself and possibly even suicide attempts.

But there was really no consensus on how he was feeling. Again, this goes back to Craig to squabs and self-insid different person a lot of people they came across to. So he would, you know, be happy and enjoy the one person, the next person that might be other things going on. The PI had a specialist analyze the family computer, the only one in the house. Veronica told UnFound she thought Craig's instant messages would help fill in some of the many blanks.

She assumed he would have been candid since he'd never expect that his parents would see them. And she was thrilled when the specialist managed to retrieve most of the messages. Even more thrilled when some of Craig's friends gave the PI their own computers for them to look through. But all of this still didn't reveal any new information. No plans to leave, nothing. There was nothing specifically popped up on the computer that believed to believe that

he had any intention of doing any kind of harm to himself or anything like that. As the first anniversary of their son's disappearance drew near, Veronica and Bill flew to Southern California. Veronica told North County Times reporters, Dacey Brant, that Craig had traveled there before and he had loved it. So when they heard about a young man matching his description, who apparently tried to cash a money order from their neck of the woods in New York, they were hopeful. But after five days of hanging flyers on

peers and searching through recovery centers, shelters, and a military base, they returned home dejected once again. That was an especially tough week. It was late June of 2005 and Craig's classmates were all graduating high school. He should have been there, and his family couldn't believe they still didn't know why he wasn't. What they really wanted was for state police to take over the case, which finally happened in March of 2006. The family's PI turned over everything he had gathered so far, and that's when police learned about a big lead that had just come to light that very month. It turned out that Alicia and her mom might not have been the last people to see Craig. The PI told police that he had found people who saw Craig on the railroad tracks behind

Alicia's apartment complex the day that he walked away and went missing. Now, most articles I've read mention two witnesses, even Veronica says it during her interview with Ed Denzel, but investigator Casteline told us there were three. All middle school boys who had just finished seventh grade and who knew Craig through the school mentorship program. When police interviewed them the boys told them that they saw Craig walking northwest on the tracks. So essentially he was heading in the direction of his house. They did call out to him. There was a motion made by the three of them that he put his finger to his mouth. He sang.

Right. They looked away and then he was gone. That fit the theory that Craig was trying to slip away undetected after seeing his dad. The fact that these boys actually knew Craig as well gave their statements a lot of weight. They weren't just guessing that it was him. They were sure of it. But there was a problem with their account. It seems very unlikely only because the description of what Craig was wearing that day from the girlfriend and from the mom is quite different from what these other three kids are saying they saw him wearing.

Mom and girlfriend say that he was wearing a short sleeve like a shirt. Kids are saying he was wearing a long sleeve shirt. All three boys told investigators that Craig had a backpack on. But Alicia said that he didn't have a backpack when he left her house. And remember, his parents found his backpack in his car. So investigators say that while the kids remember

the encounter happening around the end of the school year, they were not sure of the exact date. You know, you look into it to see what's what, but the discrepancies are there that maybe they saw him one day, but maybe it wasn't that day. What's odd to me is this version of events that a couple of kids saw Craig walking home on the railroad tracks on the day he disappeared. This has been widely reported as fact for years, and I'm not sure why since police are pretty doubtful that it actually happened that day. My only guess is that maybe investigators did believe it for a while and then maybe stopped somewhere along the line and then no one ever corrected the record.

Now Veronica said that once State Police took over the case, they, along with her PI, were able to fill in more of the blanks on what Craig was doing when he wasn't at work. They learned that he was mostly hanging out with friends, but these friends weren't the core group that he had been tight with for years. These were more of the, quote unquote, troublemaker types. And it turns out that another so-called troublemaker friend was keeping a secret. You see, in the months leading up to his disappearance, Craig had lost his wallet, and with it, his license. It doesn't appear that he ever replaced the license, although he bought a new wallet,

and that new one was the one his parents found in his room. But in early 2007, police learned that Craig's original wallet and license weren't missing after all. A friend of his had it. A guy who Ed Densel referred to on his podcast as Jeff. Jeff told police that he had found the wallet between the seats of his car. He thought Craig must have dropped it while they were smoking weed, but rather than

hand it over to investigators right away, he stashed it away. This is one of the getting trouble, so that's why I never came forward with it. It was Jeff's parents who eventually turned the wallet in. According to what Veronica said, they had evidently found the wallet hidden behind Jeff's dresser, but they didn't come forward because their son had been in trouble with the law before. But then I guess someone had overheard Jeff's mother talking about the situation at a local restaurant, and it was that person that went and told police. Investigator Casteline told us that they checked him out and interviewed him.

And I'm not sure exactly how they determined this, but he is not considered a suspect in Craig's disappearance. Now, they knew because of talking to Jeff that Craig smoked weed. But according to Jerry Gretzinger's reporting, police also found out that Craig had been even selling small amounts of it. But there wasn't any connection that they could find

between this low-level drug activity and his disappearance. And really, the more time passed, the more people close to this case started to believe that maybe it was his job at price chopper, or rather whatever made him stay away from price chopper, that was at the center of all of this. Maybe finding out why he stopped going could help solve the mystery.

So that became the focal point of the investigation. And that's when a memory, Veronica still held on to, sent them off in an interesting direction. In his last few months of working at Price Chopper, Craig had been tasked with helping to unload dairy truck deliveries, so he started spending a lot of time on the loading docks hanging out with the truckers. And over the years, as Veronica had mentally dissected every single moment leading up to

Craig's disappearance, she kept coming back to an exchange that they had had. She said on Unfound that one day, Craig came home with a name and a phone number written on a piece of paper. He told his mom that an older woman, older than him anyway, had given it to him. And he was kind of laughing, almost seemed proud of himself. Veronica thought the situation was inappropriate and asked why he hadn't thrown the number away. And he said he just wanted to show his friends first.

But here's the thing, Veronica caught a quick glimpse of the paper. And to her, the handwriting looked traditionally masculine, not feminine. Now again, she didn't think much of it at the time. But now she wondered if it was a clue. Was it a man's handwriting? Didn't mean anything if it was? The PI speculated that Craig might have been trying to hide something about his sexuality. An investigators theorized to Daily Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore that he stopped going

to work because he wanted to avoid someone there, maybe a truck driver. But interviews with some of those truck drivers didn't get police any closer to finding Craig. It was just another dead end. The truth was, if they ever wanted to understand what was happening with Craig, they were going to have to find him. So they focused on their physical searches for him. K9 searches, checks by patrols, and all the areas near the railroad tracks, the waterways, watered areas, all those areas were all checks.

According to Michael Goode's reporting for the Daily Gazette, investigators found a jawbone on the Mohawk River bank in the spring of 2012. And even though it was determined not to be crags, police and his loved ones searched the area of that bank for clues. They still didn't find anything. A year later, more bones were found in some woods near Price Chopper, but anthropologists determined that they were animal bones. Then in November of 2014, geologists taking soil samples found a decomposed body submerged in silt, in a culvert by a stream. Bill told Times Union reporter Keisha Kluke that by now the Freers had gotten half a dozen calls about remains being found, but none had ever been this close to Cambridge Manor. I mean, the culvert

they're talking about was no less than two miles from where Craig disappeared. They couldn't help but wonder if it was him, even though it seemed almost too convenient. I mean, if he'd been there the whole time, surely someone would have found him before now. Now investigators privately told them that the body they had found had a wallet with a state ID belonging to a former resident of the county, 63-year-old Gary Rau. He had never been reported missing. He didn't have any close friends or family nearby. They didn't know how or when he died, but there were no signs of injury and police ruled

out foul play. So, once again, the friars were back to square one. They tried to keep living, to move on as much as they could move on when their whole world had been upended. And that's gotta be one of the hardest parts after losing someone. I mean, the world just keeps going on like nothing's happened. How does no one else feel that giant hole that's been left? That kind of situation makes it hard to do the little things, especially when the little things involve treating yourself, because there is so much guilt that can come along with just being happy after a tragedy. But one day, during a time in 2017, when Veronica was undergoing radiation treatments

for lymphoma, a friend insisted on treating her to a manicure and pedicure. So they went to the salon, and while they were there, a woman came up to Veronica. This woman told her that she hadn't reported anything about this to police because she figured they already knew. But now, seeing her for the first time since Craig disappeared, she had to share something with her. She said that she and Craig were at the same graduation party the Saturday before he went missing, and she accidentally overheard his end of a phone conversation. He had gone off on his own to talk and didn't seem to realize that anyone could hear him. And he seemed very upset with whoever was on the line.

I guess he was pacing anxiously, telling the person something along the lines of, I can't believe you're going to do this to me now. Veronica was stunned hearing this because she told Ed Densel that she had never heard anything about that call and neither had police. And unfortunately, by the time they're hearing this now, any phone records that they might have hoped to access had been purged. Investigator Castaline said that they followed up with multiple people who attended that party. But all they seemed to know for sure

is that Craig was on a cell phone. Though it's not clear who's phone it was or who had him so agitated on the other end of it. Everyone had always known there were missing pieces to the puzzle. And even though this felt like it should start bringing pieces together, it didn't. And they had to wait two more years

for the next small piece to fall into place. In August of 2019, police heard from a PI who dropped a bombshell. A guy named Nick, who had worked with Craig at Price Chopper, was claiming to have seen him after June 27, 2004. And he says that he believed he saw him as a passenger to do call two days after he was last seen on Route 15, the area of Price Chopper. Nick said he was on his way to work, driving north on the highway when he spotted Craig, who was in the passenger seat of a car.

He and Craig caught each other's eye for a second, and then the driver, who Nick couldn't see because of the sun's glare, made a left turn on a nearby road. Nick didn't think anything of it at the time because he had no idea anyone was even looking for Craig. That is, until a few hours into his shift that day when a coworker told him about everything.

And when you heard this, Nick was confused. Like, what do you mean he's missing? I literally just saw him. But investigator Castellan says, there's a big problem with this tip. The person was interviewed in 2008 during the investigation, and he never made any mention of that sort.

We appreciate every lead, every person coming out with any information they have on it. But if you were interviewed in 2008 regarding this and you don't say it then and then you wait to 2019, say, oh, why did C. Craig on the car? To me, that's a little suspicious as to just why wouldn't you say something earlier about that when you're interviewed? Here's the thing. In Facebook post, Nick countered that he did report the siding to law enforcement. The very day it happened. He says once his coworker told him Craig was missing, he called police. Problem was, since the price chopper is in Glenville, it was Glenville PD who came

to the store to take his statement. But he suspects that they never turned it over to Scotia or to state police, because he says no one ever followed up with him. Now I don't know what the deal is, with the 2008 interview investigator Casteline mentioned. But Nick maintains that he is sure the person he saw was Craig, which gave the Freyrs a sliver of hope that Craig is still out there. They never stopped pushing to find him, and the community stood by them. They helped get billboards up. They joined in search efforts and even checked their own properties for clues.

Although not everyone was so supportive. There was a small faction, led by one local guy in particular, who started what Craig's sister referred to in a Facebook post as a smear campaign. They were spreading rumors that the Freers were hiding something, or that Bill was abusive and involved in his son's disappearance, or that Craig just wanted to get away from them. But in her post, Craig's sister disputed all of that. She said her father had his struggles, but he was a good dad, that he had passed a polygraph test, and did everything he could to find his son. Police agreed.

They are sure, as much as they can be, with the case still open, that Bill was not involved. All the family was cooperative. They were great, very open with us about everything. Veronica told reporter Jerry Gretzinger that the gossip broke Bill's heart. Sadly, the two of them split up a few years after Craig went missing and he died in 2017, never knowing what happened to his son. No one knows. And theories have changed and shifted over the years, as theories often do.

In 2008, police told Daily Gazette reporter Jill Bryce that through the process of elimination, they believed Craig died accidentally, but that someone out there knew what happened to him. Then in 2012, they told reporter Kathleen Moore that they thought someone killed Craig, possibly within a few hours of his disappearance. But investigator Casteline says, at this point, there really is no predominant theory. The only theory that we have is that we are investigating this in person. This point, there really is no predominant theory. The only theory that we have is that we are investigating a missing person. We don't know what happened to him, where he went if there was foul plan involved.

I know it's been so long that people want to have conclusions as to what happened to him, and it's easy for anybody to say, listen, he got mixed up with the wrong crowd and he fell into the river or he got hit by a train or maybe he just ran away. I mean, no one's to say, we haven't discovered any strong lead to bring us into one direction over the other. That being said, some of those things are more plausible than others. For instance, state and Amtrak police found no evidence that Craig was struck by a train that day, accidentally or by his own intent.

Other investigators have told reporter Pete Irrizo that they think it's unlikely he was abducted, given his 511-190-pound frame in athleticism. And they didn't believe he'd be able to voluntarily disappear for this long. Not to mention, his social security number has never been used. But this aspect of the case has just as many discrepancies as everything else. Here's a perfect example. In 2009, then lead investigator Gloria Capola told Times Union reporter Carol Demare that while police haven't ruled out

the possibility that Craig harmed himself, there's nothing to suggest he did. Because if he had, quote, we would have found him by now. End quote. But then, in 2021, the same now retired investigator told Jerry Gretzinger, quote, people say, well, if it's a suicide, we would have found him by now. That's not true. We've had suicide victims found years and years later, and further out than you would ever think.

End quote. What? She was the quote unquote people who said that, at least one of them. So how do you reconcile that? I have no idea. Veronica said she does not believe Craig would take his own life. She said on Unfound that the family's PI thinks Craig might have been walking home that day and decided to let things cool down before he faced his parents. Maybe he reached out to someone, the wrong someone, or took a detour that he shouldn't have.

Until Craig is found, every possibility is on the table. And despite the mountain of contradictions, a few things have remained constant and true. Craig's family misses him desperately. They want him home, and they want answers, even though they're afraid of what those answers might be. Police are still waiting for that call or tip that will lead them to Craig. And if you're the one who has that, they want to hear from you. And just a reminder, if you think that police already have information, just like that woman at the

nail salon, that's not necessarily true. Even if you've given your information before, please come forward again. And listen, we don't know what was going through Craig's mind that day or in the days leading up to his disappearance. But there is help available for anyone who is having thoughts of suicide. We've linked out to resources in our blog post. If Craig is alive today, he's 36. When he disappeared, he would have been five foot 11 and 190 pounds with reddish brown hair and brown eyes.

He was wearing blue jeans or blue shorts, depending on the source material, a short sleeve white t-shirt, white adidas sneakers, and a gold chain with a st. Christopher medal. If you have any information about the disappearance of Craig Freer, please contact Troop G of the New York State Police at 518-630-1700. We also have an alternate number in the show notes. You can also send them a confidential tip by emailing CrimeTip at troopers.ny.gov or call

the New York State Missing Persons Clearing House at 1-800-346-3543. The Deck is an audio chuck production with theme music by Ryan Lewis to learn more about the Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Do you approve? No! No! No!