On the morning of June 27, 2004, 17-year-old Craig Frear left his home in Glenville, New York, supposedly headed to work. It was his first real job as a grocery store worker at the Glenville Price Chopper supermarket.
That day Craig had no intention of going to work though. Rather than tell his mother and father, he left the house carrying his grocery store uniform out to the car to keep up appearances.
A few hours later, his mother, Veronica Frear, decided to stop by the same supermarket to pick up some items and was expecting to find her son. Craig wasn’t there when she arrived and when Veronica asked other employees, they told her that he was not on the clock.
Veronica drove around searching for her son and soon spotted his vehicle at a different friend’s workplace. She confronted him in person, asking why Craig wasn’t at work. He lied, telling her it was a scheduling mix-up, and she believed him.
Veronica returned home but still felt uneasy, so she asked her husband, Bill, to check on Craig again at the store. Bill arrived at the supermarket to find Craig still missing and decided to ask management.
It was at that point that the lie collapsed. Craig had been dismissed a month earlier for failing to show up. The news reached home, and an angry Veronica called his girlfriend’s mother’s apartment, knowing he was probably there.
On the second try, Craig’s girlfriend picked up, admitted he was there, and handed him the phone. An argument ensued, and Veronica ordered her son to come home immediately.
He complied, but that was the last time his mother ever heard his voice. As Craig exited the Cambridge Manor apartment and headed to his vehicle, he spotted his father in the parking lot.
Rather than take the anticipated confrontation, he made the split-second decision to leave the car and sneak around the back before his father saw him. Craig was last spotted on foot behind the Cambridge Manor complex by two children playing outside.
He was creeping along the side of the building, gesturing for them to stay quiet, and walked directly into a dense wooded patch adjacent to the railroad tracks.
Craig didn’t carry his cell phone, wallet, or the $40 in cash, which was still sitting in his bedroom. It has been twenty years since he was last seen alive.
“Craiger”
Craig grew up in a supportive household on Yorkshire Court in Glenville, New York alongside his brother Matthew. His parents, Bill and Veronica Frear, were also deeply involved in their children’s lives.
‘Craiger’, as he was commonly known by his friends, was a gifted athlete and a major soccer star at Scotia Glenville High School. Just before his disappearance, he had also been selected as the co-captain of the varsity soccer team.
Due to his impressive athletic abilities, several colleges were already actively trying to recruit him. Craig had no history of behavioural problems, no criminal record, and no known enemies.
Craig’s social world, though, was apparently wider than most 17-year-olds. He had co-workers from Price Chopper and teammates from the high school team and the Black Watch Soccer club. According to CBS, he also had several female friends outside of his relationships.
These circles did not overlap, and those who knew him from soccer didn’t necessarily know the individuals he worked with. That meant that when he disappeared, no single group had a full picture of Craig’s life.
However, he had run away once before for less than 24 hours after a minor disagreement with his parents. Craig came back home of his own accord.
This brief incident initially gave the family hope that the current disappearance was a similar act of rebellion and that he would come back once he had cooled off.
Alarmed Parents and the Beginnings of a Decades-Long Search
After their argument and Craig disappeared, his parents waited until the afternoon before they began searching the wooded area behind Cambridge Manor. Calls to friends yielded no information, and they discovered his vehicle, keys, and the phone he left behind.
Bill and Veronica reported him missing to the police later that night. When the Frears explained the situation, including that Craig had been caught in a lie about his job and the subsequent argument, the police treated it as a standard runaway case.
Following standard police protocols, a healthy 17-year-old male who walked away after a fight was not treated as an immediate emergency. They assumed he was just cooling off with a friend, but would eventually return.
However, there was a major logistical issue due to the distance between the incident site and the family’s home. Craig’s home was located in Glenville, while the Cambridge Manor apartment complex where he was last seen was categorised under the jurisdiction of Scotia.
Because of the crossover, local police departments spent time debating which agency would be legally responsible for handling the active missing persons case.
The parents also pointed out the red flags in the case, including that Craig left his keys, cell phone, and wallet behind. They argued that a teen planning to run or stay with a friend would at least take their money or the car.
Because of this, no immediate police grid was organised, and no tracking dogs were brought out. No forensic perimeter was set up around the woods.
Agonising about her initial actions, Veronica told WNYT news, “He said he was going to work. Got his work shirt, put it in the car, and that’s the last time I physically saw my son. The nights are the worst. Your mind starts going, and you can’t shut it down. You keep thinking, ‘What could I have done?’ I feel like I failed him. Something was going on, and I just didn’t see everything.”
State Police Take the Case
The initial investigation was handled locally, but after a year, the case had grown too big. In 2005, State police investigator Gloria Coppola of Troop G Major Crimes was assigned to conduct polygraph assessments of those close to Craig.
After running the polygraphs and consulting with then-Scotia Police chief John Pytlovany, the decision was made that state police would lead the case going forward. They would be bringing more manpower and resources to a file which had already gone cold.
New York State Police launched coordinated, extensive ground searches through the thick brush, swamps and woods behind the Cambridge Manor complex. Over the years, they did more than 70 targeted grid searches in that perimeter.
They brought in state helicopters for aerial thermal imaging and deployed dive teams, along with sonar boats to drag the waterways. Knowing Craig was last seen walking toward the active train tracks, troopers walked the lines for miles and cross-referenced railway logs from June 27 2004.
The state police began completely from scratch, re-interviewing all of Craig’s classmates, friends, and ex-girlfriends. They wanted to see whether anyone noticed subtle shifts in his behaviour before he went missing, or whether he left any hints of a plan to run away.
The police eventually established a database for Craig’s tips. To date, they have officially processed more than 500 individual leads from the public.
State police also placed a federal red flag monitor on Craig’s Social Security number. They coordinated with credit bureaus, the IRS, and banks to check tax filings or bank account creations anywhere in the United States.
Leads that Didn’t Pan Out
In 2014, a team of private land surveyors was working in a wooded patch off Freemans Bridge Road, 1.75 miles from the Cambridge Manor apartment complex. While inspecting a concrete drainage ditch on the property, they spotted skeletal remains.
The surveyors called the police, who arrived and taped off the wooded area, securing it as an active crime scene. Investigators also contacted Bill and Veronica Frear to inform them of the discovery.
The bones were transferred to the Albany Medical Centre forensic pathology lab for an autopsy. Bill voiced his anxiety to The Times Union, saying, “Because of the location and everything, immediately you’re thinking ‘Oh, my God, it might be him.'”
Frear said. “It’s the same thing all over again. It’s very hard to describe. It’s not like you’re getting your hopes up, because you’re dreading it’s him.”
After cross-referencing the teeth on the skull with the dental charts Craig’s parents provided to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, they found it was not a match.
The next solid lead came seven years later, around the anniversary of Craig’s disappearance in 2021. A coworker came forward, claiming they had seen him in the passenger car travelling northbound on State Route 50 in Glenville.
Their claim alluded to some time between June 27 and July 2, 2004, which is the window during which the police believed him to be already missing. He said the car stopped at the light at Sheffield Road before turning left.
State police also publicly asked anyone who could verify the sighting to come forward. The witness, though, was unable to recall the colour, make, or model of the vehicle. Because these details were missing, it was impossible to trace the vehicle registration or identify the driver.
Facing Milestones and Birthdays
The time Craig has been gone has forced the Frear family to navigate milestone birthdays and anniversaries in pain. During a meeting marking the 4th anniversary of Craig’s disappearance in 2008, Bill told the Saratogian, “You have no idea what the last four years have been…”
He went on to explain that the holidays had been particularly tough on his family. Despite the length of time and lack of physical or digital evidence, Bill explained to the Daily Gazette, “We hold out hope that he is out there. That’s what keeps us going.”
Veronica has also publicly shared on anniversaries that she continues to keep Craig’s bedroom the way he left it. She has refused to clear it out in case he walks through the door.
She told CBS6 Albany, “I so desperately want to know those answers, and I’m so desperately afraid to find out those answers.”
On the 19th anniversary, The Times Union reported Veronica’s plea to the local community for help: “There is somebody out there who knows what happened to my son … I’m on my knees, hoping there’s someone out there who can help us.”
Investigators have also weighed in on the case after years of intense searching. Kevin Noto of the New York State Police told WNYT News, “Whatever happened to Craig on the 27th, it does not seem like it was a pre-planned event.”
Coppola added, “Craig was so secretive, especially in the last few weeks. He was lying a lot, staying home a lot where he would normally go out, and he seemed down.”
Twenty Years Later
Matthew Frear has spent most of the two decades since the disappearance of his brother turning grief into something active.
Each year around the anniversary, the family organises a Candles for Craig Frear vigil, asking people to light a candle at 7 pm, photograph it, and post it publicly in his memory.
Matthew also went from a participant in the Ride for Missing Children to the primary route planner and executive leader. Matthew and Veronica have also stated that their goal has evolved from raising awareness about Craig to protecting children from online threats.
Through special bike rides including a dedicated ride on the Zim Smith trail, the family continues to raise thousands of dollars for the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). These funds pay for safety educators to visit local schools.
The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children released an age-processed image of what Craig would look like today. It was aged forward from a 17-year-old’s yearbook photo. Reflecting on the case, investigator Coppola told CBS, “It’s important that the public realises that what may not seem important could be.”
Craig’s case is not the first instance where a teen disappeared without leaving investigators a clear trail. There are stories like Kristina Porco, who also vanished without a trace after storming off following an argument with her parents. Her family continues to search for her almost four decades later.
New York State police Troop G continues to list the case as open. Anyone with information is asked to contact their office at (518) 630-1700 or email crimetip@troopers.ny.gov.
For more stories on unsolved disappearances, explore our articles on Jodi Huisentruit and Leigh Occhi.
