CHEROKEE COUNTY — "I don't think he really liked staying there, but nobody really had a motive to harm him that we're aware of,” said District Attorney Jack Thorp.
Thorp is talking about Paul Knight. He disappeared from Cherokee County in July 2017.
2 News Anchor Sharon Phillips sorted through the documents in this case and discovered why it's so mysterious to investigators.
At that time, 37-year-old Paul Knight lived in an assisted living facility in Tahlequah. Investigators said he left one day, and no one heard from him again.
Phillips sat down with Thorp to get more information.
“He was spotted walking down Highway 62 there right outside of Tahlequah,” he said. "There's no real motive that anybody has been able to bring forward and no true reason why he would have left the living center."
Thorp said the information is in the National Missing and Unidentified Person's System, a government website that aids law enforcement.
“His information is put into the NamUs system and as of all the bodies that have been recovered since in Cherokee County everything is compared, and we have never recovered his remains,” said Thorp.
Thorp said what's unusual about this case is that Knight left all his belongings behind and gave no explanation for his departure.
"There has been no individual that had a problem with him, and we can find no motive for his disappearance,” said Thorp. "We would say that he began as a missing person but when an individual is gone for this long at this time, I believe we presume that they're deceased."
2 News asked Thorp how his office investigates a case with such little information.
He said when a person disappears or it's an unexplained homicide they try to determine if anyone had motive or opportunity to commit a crime.
He said when it's not some random act of violence that others witness happen it is tougher to investigate.
Thorp said tips are more important in these cases. Anyone that has information in the disappearance of Paul Knight can call the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office at 918-456-2583.
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