Sneakers, shirt found while crews search for missing college student

FRANKLIN, Mass. — Crews in Franklin have resumed their search Tuesday for a Duke University student reported missing over the weekend.

Dozens of agencies have been searching the area surrounding Phyllis Lane looking for 20-year-old Michael Doherty since his parents reported him missing Sunday afternoon when he didn’t return home from the night before.

His friends told investigators that he was last seen around 1:30 a.m. Sunday when he was leaving the party, and they believed he was going to cut through the woods to head home. It’s something his friends said he has done before.

MORE: Franklin police 'hopeful' in search for 20-year-old

“The path he took, it’s like a discombobulated path,” friend Shawn Hanley said. “It’s not a real path. But him and his brother, they said they took it one time and I guess he thought he could do it again.”

The search area widened Monday as police were trying to follow the direction Doherty may have been walking. The search was first focused in the marsh off Oak Street Extension, and was then expanded to include the gold course at Maplegate Country Club in Bellingham.

Officials said they found a shirt and sneaker possibly belonging to Doherty near the marsh on Sunday. On Monday, another sneaker was found in the wetlands behind the country club.

A Massachusetts State Police helicopter was also being used in the search.

Doherty had just finished up his sophomore year at Duke, where he is studying engineering.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police.

Cox Media Group