HAZEL PARK, Mich. – The father of a 2-year-old boy said he abandoned his son and the child’s mother on the side of I-75 just north of Toledo, Ohio before they vanished. That was 41 years ago.
Foul play is suspected in the Aug. 31, 1981, disappearance of Mark Martin, 2, and his mother, Carolyn Martin. According to the Doe Network, Mark’s father had very little to do with Carolyn or Mark until a paternity suit ordered him to pay child support.
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The couple reconciled and were going to start a new life together in San Antonio, Texas. Carolyn and Mark Martin stopped at her mother’s home in Hazel Park to say goodbye. That was the last time the family saw either of them.
Within an hour after they left Metro Detroit, Carolyn Martin reportedly told Mark’s father that she didn’t want to go with him to Texas anymore. He told police he left both of them on the side of I-75 with a suitcase and $4,000.
The vehicle was a 1978 Pontiac Grand Prix that was black in color. It had the Michigan license plate No. SSC512, which expired in 1981. It was sold in 1982 and then titled in Minnesota.
Mark would be 43 years old now.
Anyone with information should contact the Madison Heights Police Department at 248-585-2100.
Read: Michigan cold case coverage
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