Search continues for Peter Martin, missing from Fond du Lac reservation since March 8
DULUTH — Peter Michael Martin borrowed $40 from a friend, promising to pay her back within the next eight hours and offering an Apple iPhone as collateral — an exchange that is among the final reported sightings of the man who was officially reported missing March 11.
Martin, 31, responded to a Facebook message from the friend asking about his status hours later. He reportedly told her he was waiting for a ride to town to cash a check. She responded immediately, according to details in a search warrant filed in St. Louis County, but he never wrote back.
Martin was last seen March 8 at his home in the Mahnomen neighborhood of the Fond du Lac Reservation. He is Native American, 5-foot, 10-inches tall, 185 pounds and has dark brown eyes. He has a scar on his forehead and tattoos on his arms and chest, according to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. There have been daily searches, weather permitting, in the weeks since he was reported missing.
Search headquarters is the Sawyer Community Center — though a spokesperson for the tribe asked that media stay away.
Jessica Gidagaakoons Smith, an advocate for the family, has raised just more than $10,000 dollars on GoFundMe — a reward fund for information leading directly to Martin. She was also involved with the earliest efforts to find Martin.
"I immediately just started getting things in order, getting posters made and reaching out to people. And then I put a call out for the community on social media," Smith said on the GoFundMe site.
Smith said she was involved with search efforts, which included dogs, early Friday but did not find any leads.
According to search warrants, an ex-girlfriend who shares a young child with Martin stopped by his home on Rustic Lane for a custody exchange and found the door open. She called the Fond Du Lac Police Department to conduct a welfare check. They found damage in every room. A television had been smashed; holes in the walls. Martin's drivers license and tribal identification had been left behind.
The woman reported him missing two days later. Her last interaction, she told authorities, was a text exchange just before noon on March 8.
Days later tribal police officers, acting on a tip, found a black sweatshirt with an iPhone in the pocket and a black T-shirt on Giiniw Road In nearby woods, hanging from a tree, they found a black jacket with a white Samsung Galaxy 6 cell phone in the pocket.
Both phones are believed to belong to Martin.
Officers have filed search warrants for his residence, phones and various online accounts belonging to Martin — including his email.
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which is the lead agency on the search, activated a full Emergency Operations Center process earlier this week, requiring resources from all divisions across the tribal nation to support search and rescue efforts, according to a post on the band's website. They are focusing on the Sawyer area and places important to Martin.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed Friday that it has been assisting the tribal police since last week.
