DETROIT – Sunday marks 41 years since Shawn Patrick Raymond vanished while visiting Detroit with friends. Police believe he was murdered.
Shawn Patrick Raymond, 19, graduated from Algonac High School in 1983. The same year he vanished.
His sister, Tracy Raymond-Kohmann described Raymond as being extremely loving and very caring, according to an Dateline report from 2018. He was one of five siblings in a very tight-knit family. Raymond’s mother told Dateline that he had recently come out to her as gay and was learning how to become comfortable with his identity.
On July 21, 1983, Raymond went to Detroit with his friends. They spent time at Menjo’s, a gay bar in Detroit. Witnesses told investigators he was seen there around closing time. He did not return home that night. His family never saw him again.
In September 1992, a skull was found during a regular dredging of the Clinton River near Harrison Township. More than a decade later, in 2004, the skull was identified as Raymond. The rest of his body has not been recovered.
The case is considered a homicide.
Anyone with information about this case should contact the Michigan State Police Lapeer Post at 810-664-2905. The agency case number is 24-1381-04.