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Highlands Today

Father Of Missing Man Talks About Son

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: August 5, 2008

SEBRING - Life is filled with "should haves," and the words "if only" can echo in one's brain for years.

For Jack Bergeron, the father of Michael "Mike" Bergeron, whose body was found in the woods near his Tanglewood home, he's spent a lot of tortured hours lately second-guessing himself.

Bergeron, 68, wanted an opportunity Monday to clear up some misperceptions regarding his son's disappearance.

Michael "Mike" Bergeron, 41, was last seen by his parents Jack and Eyvette Bergeron on May 28, when he left his parents' Tanglewood home on Primrose Lane, where Mike also lived. His body was discovered by sheriff's deputies on July 29, as they searched some thick scrub land not far to the east of the home.

There was no sign of foul play.

That May 28, Jack Bergeron said he was sitting on his back porch. His son had gone to the bank and withdrew $500. Mike gave his parents each $100. He told them they should always have at least $100 on them.

An undisclosed amount of cash was found on the body.

He also had some of his medication with him. There was more of it at the house.

Mike never said the words "I will see you later, I'm out of here," as quoted from the sheriff's office press release, Bergeron said. He didn't know where that came from. That wasn't how Mike spoke, he said.

"The NBA playoffs were on in the house," Jack Bergeron said. "(Mike) asked me, 'Why aren't you watching the basketball game?' I thought maybe he wanted to talk. He walked out the door and said, 'Have a good one.'"

But he didn't say it like you might think, he said.

"It was more like he was saying have a good life," he said, reflecting back.

He walked out the door. He had a beer in his back pocket, he said.

"He didn't say goodbye to us," he said, speaking about himself and his wife.
Jack Bergeron said, unlike what was reported, he didn't wait two months to report his son's disappearance.

Within a few days of the disappearance, Bergeron said, he inquired about his son at the New Testament Mission.

He's not sure who he talked to, but said he was told they had Mike there at the mission. When he asked to speak with him, he was told residents were not allowed to stay there during the day time.

He said detectives later learned the mission's records showed he last stayed there before May 28.

"He said he wanted to be homeless," Bergeron said. "He talked to homeless people in Sebring. He wanted to travel around. He grew a beard and asked, 'Do I look homeless?'"

His son had a bipolar disorder, and Jack Bergeron said he felt if he pushed his son too hard to get him to come home it would drive him away.

Mike had gotten some medications and took too many while living in Pennsylvania. He was placed in a safe environment there. It led to a divorce.

That was before they moved Mike to Florida in December 2006, Bergeron said.

Mike worked but had a hard time staying at work, he said.

He tried to commit suicide around February 2007, Bergeron said. They drove him to Florida Hospital, where they had to pump his stomach.

The press release said Michael Bergeron was under the care of a counselor.

Bergeron said he told a detective he didn't know if Mike had been to see his counselor at the Marge Brewster Center. Turns out he hadn't been to a counselor for months, he said.

After their son disappeared, Bergeron said he went to a nearby bar that he knew his son went to and asked if anyone had seen Michael. They said they had seen Michael, but he later learned they were talking about "Michael the golfer," not his son.

His son liked to go for walks in the woods.

Mike enjoyed going for long walks into The Preserve in Sun 'n Lake of Sebring, he said. Bergeron said he walked some of those paths after their son disappeared looking for him there. He looked for him at the city beaches.

He reported his son's disappearance the first time in late June, he said.

"I went to the sheriff's office at the end of June and spoke to someone," he said. "I think he was a sergeant or something."

He couldn't remember a name of who he spoke to.

He went to a side room where a (deputy) listened, but no report was taken. The sheriff's office central records could not find any evidence of that meeting. Some records of contacts with the public in the lobby are not necessarily kept.

He said after he contacted the sheriff's office and spoke with detectives on July 23, they immediately began searching for him.

"I guess I could have pushed harder with the first (deputy) I talked to," he said. "I keep turning it over in my mind. The loss is unbelievable."

What would he recommend others should do, given a similar situation?

"Make sure they do a missing person report," he said.

Sheriff's Lt. Tim Lethbridge said Monday if Bergeron had come in and asked to file a missing person report one would have been generated.

The case remains under investigation, Lethbridge said, pending the findings of the medical examiner.

Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com

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