Missing Michigan Family Seen at UP Gas Station

Anthony Cirigliano told police he was in danger because he had information on 9/11 attacks
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 21, 2022 8:27 AM CDT
Updated Oct 23, 2022 10:05 AM CDT
Family Vanishes After 911 Call: 'People Want to Erase Me'
At left, Suzette and Anthony Cirigliano. At right, their sons Noah and Brandon.   (Fremont Police Department)

Update: A family that disappeared after the father told police he was in danger was spotted at a gas station in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on Monday, NBC News reports. Surveillance video shows the Ciriglianos buying gas and fuel in Gulliver, about 170 miles north of the family's home in Fremont, according to a police statement. The family has not been in contact with relatives, and state police said they still need to talk to them. Our original story from Friday follows:

Anthony Cirigliano called 911 shortly after midnight Sunday asking for immediate police protection because he had information about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "I know this sounds crazy," he said. "I'm not crazy … People want to erase me from the face of the earth." But after a police visit to the home, the Michigan man, his wife, and their two sons disappeared without a trace, according to police. Officers responded to the call and spent 45 minutes to an hour at the family's Fremont home, speaking with Anthony and his wife Suzette, both 51, to ensure "mental illness wasn't putting anybody in jeopardy" because "honestly, that's a very abnormal thing to say, and make a police report of," Police Chief Tim Rodwell tells WOOD.

Anthony was "displaying to my officers paranoia and some concerns in regard to the FBI and CIA," but everyone was okay, continues Rodwell. He says officers told the couple to call police again if they needed help. Later that day or the next, the couple and their sons, Brandon, 19, and Noah, 15, left the home in their silver 2005 Toyota Sienna minivan and haven't been seen since. The family had been caring for Suzette's mother, who has dementia and was found wandering the neighborhood around 9pm Monday, prompting the search for the family, per WOOD. Pets were also left behind at the home, where phones belonging to Suzette and the boys were found, per Fox News. Anthony's phone was not located but has reportedly been turned off.

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Anthony's mother told police she had spoken to her son around 4pm Sunday, but couldn't reach him Monday. There has been no activity on the family's bank accounts or credit cards, police say. Rodwell tells WOOD that friends of the family say this is "extremely abnormal behavior from Tony and Suzette," who moved to the area from South Carolina four years ago. But "we don't see any signs of foul play right now. There's no signs of struggle inside the home." Still, "the circumstances are strange" and "we're just very concerned," he tells Fox. He urges anyone with information that could help locate the family, whose van carries the Michigan plate DJL1982, to reach out. (More missing family stories.)

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