Missing Georgia man's car found in Chattanooga

Brian Anthony Wehrle left a relative's house in Carrollton, Ga., on Sept. 23, leaving behind money, his cell phone, medication and an overnight bag with shaving equipment and clothes.

The 39-year-old hasn't been seen or heard from since. His credit and debit cards haven't been used. The Carrollton Police Department and Mr. Wehrle's family faced a dead end.

Then Mr. Wehrle's blue 1992 Buick LeSabre turned up last week at the intersection of Judson Lane and Chamberlain Avenue in Chattanooga.

The car's Georgia license plate had been removed and in its place was a stolen Tennessee tag, said Carrollton police investigator Tony Johnson. From canvassing the neighborhood, police learned the car had been there about a month.

"It wasn't unusual for cars to be parked right there in that particular area because someone there works on cars and that's where they park," Investigator Johnson said. "We were able to find someone who saw a black male park the car and leave it."

That led police to suspect foul play -- Mr. Wehrle is white.

"We're hoping we can stir enough people up in the Chattanooga community and find somebody that knows something," Investigator Johnson said.

Dead end

Mr. Wehrle worked as a land surveyor, owned two dachshunds and a cat, loved his nieces and nephews, and had a farm an hour outside of Atlanta on which he and his partner of 13 years, Jeff Rolsten, built a barn.

"I just don't understand how he could walk away from that," Mr. Rolsten said. "I don't think he's taking 'me time.' I think something happened to him. I think somebody jumped him and stole the car."

Mr. Wehrle was visiting family in Carrollton in September, a time of heavy rain and flooding that shut down Interstate 20. The hourlong drive from Atlanta to the west central Georgia town took more than five hours because he took detours, Mr. Wehrle told his family, and he wanted to find a quicker way back to Atlanta.

He also told family he stopped to get a soda on the drive to Carrollton and met some "very interesting and fun people," Mr. Rolsten said.

"We always wondered who those interesting and fun people could be," he said.

On Sept. 23, Mr. Wehrle left a relative's house in Carrollton.

"It was just like he had left to go somewhere and was going to return in a few minutes and nobody had seen him since," Investigator Johnson said.

A neighbor told police he saw Mr. Wehrle in his parents' carport -- their house also is in Carrollton -- early on Sept. 24, but he and his vehicle were gone by 8 a.m.

Efforts to find Mr. Wehrle stalled before his car turned up in Chattanooga on Dec. 2, a surprise to Mr. Rolsten because neither he nor Mr. Wehrle has any ties to the area.

Chattanooga police at that time ran the vehicle identification number through the National Crime Information Center and got a hit on Mr. Wehrle, who had been reported missing.

Investigator Johnson declined to say whether any evidence was found on the car that might provide leads, citing the ongoing case.

Discovering the car provided some relief for Mr. Rolsten.

"I know that sounds strange," he said. "But for me, what I was afraid of was that he had had an accident or driven off the road or hit some floodwater and was at the bottom of a ravine, couldn't get out of the car or broke his back or something. And that was the thing that was just breaking my heart."

With the finding of Mr. Wehrle's car, family and friends hope to post missing person fliers in Chattanooga neighborhoods and restaurants this weekend.

"We didn't know what else to do," Mr. Rolsten said. "We still don't know what to do."