Reward for missing person.

MAY

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 12/24/2008 at 17:53:29

Bellevue Herald-Leader
November 1, 2001

May’s children offer reward
Family and DCI seek public’s help in the search for Greg May
By Lowell Carlson

The 10-month search for Greg May is still officially a missing person case.

To possibly accelerate the search for their father, or some trace of his whereabouts his children announced a $10,000 reward last week during a press conference held at Bellevue’s City Hall council chamber.

Donald and Shannon May, Los Angeles, Calif., appeared before print and electronic media gathered at City Hall, Wednesday, Oct. 24. With them were Bellevue Police Chief Lynn Schwager and Rick Benson, special agent in charge from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

A somber and subdued Donald May, speaking for the family, thanked those attending for their interest in the effort to locate their father, missing since mid-January from a residence he and two other acquaintances had leased in Bellevue.

“We are asking for the public’s help in locating our father and we are offering a reward of $10,000 for any information that will lead us to that end,” May said in a prepared statement distributed to the press.

His sister Shannon struggled to retain her composure as the news conference progressed.

When asked about the impact of her father’s disappearance and other questions connected with her remembrance of him she was unable to answer as she fought back tears.

In the family’s statement, Donald May said there are still unaccounted items in their father’s extensive, and very expensive, collection of rare and unusual rifles and muskets from the Civil War and Indian Wars. Also unaccounted for are valuable period western movie posters and other antique items.

May was referring to items not recovered when Julie Ann (Kern) Johnson and Douglas DeBruin, known locally as Cody Johnson, were arrested in April in Flagstaff, Arizona. When Arizona law enforcement captured the pair they were driving the old yellow Ryder rental truck seen being loaded with boxes prior to May’s disappearance.

Kern and DeBruin also disappeared from Bellevue at that time.

During the news conference May and Benson urged the public to be especially watchful, vigilant, this fall as they revisit some areas perhaps not seen for months in this area.

Benson suggested that hunters and farmers especially will play a key role in the effort to uncover some clue or trace of Greg May.

While neither was willing to go much beyond the scope of a missing person description, the implication was there that searchers will be looking for the remains of the missing Bellevue resident. Benson urged area residents to be especially alert for traces of evidence that could help bring an often frustrated investigation to a successful conclusion.

In an exclusive interview following the news conference here in Bellevue with Donald May back in Los Angeles, he said the family hopes offering this reward will produce some lead.

May said it has been an experience he and his family still cannot find words adequate to describe as they live their lives in hope of some news, or their father’s actual appearance.

The Los Angeles businessman said the prospect that their father’s disappearance is a “potential homicide” is real at this point.

May said aspects of the case remain beyond his ability to comment without possibly jeopardizing a successful conclusion.

“Words don’t begin to express our gratitude in regard to the effort your police chief and DCI investigators have pursued this case. I understand Police Chief Schwager has donated a considerable amount of time to work on this case and I want them to know we appreciate their effort,” May said on the local efforts to solve this case.

“There are so many injustices connected with this. Our father worked hard to be able to retire. He looked after his father until his death and he was looking forward to being able to enjoy retirement and to do some of the things he enjoyed. Everything he owned was stolen from him,” observed May.

A knowledgeable expert in period antiques from the Civil War and the American West, May said his father had assembled an impressive array of rare and unusual firearms, each worth thousands in most cases.

“He had told family that he intended this collection to become a family heirloom. He might acquire and later sell certain items in the collection, but he was very selective in what he bought and would travel widely to make specific purchases, which in many cases meant paying top dollar,” said May.

In both May’s appeal to area residents and in Benson’s additional comments anyone with information in regard to the Greg May disappearance case should contact the Bellevue Police Department at 563-872-4545 or Special Agent Rick Rahn of the Iowa DCI at the Bellevue Police Department or at 563-284-9506.