It wasn't unusual for Mikey McKinney to not tell his roommate where he was going every time he left the apartment. But what is strange is that the 23-year-old didn't show up for work the next day or come back to take care of his new dog, Rocky.
That's when his roommate, Michael Mikula, and his friends decided to put McKinney's picture on Facebook with a note asking if anyone had seen him. By Thursday afternoon, the photo had been tagged and shared hundreds of times by people in Tampa and Orlando.
Nearly 40 hours after he left his apartment on Tuesday night, Mikula got word that his roommate was on his way home on Thursday afternoon.
“I was very concerned because this is not in his character to not be responsible,” said Mikula. “He left his dinner on the stove top and the dog he just got is here and he never said, “I'm going to be gone for awhile, can you watch the dog.' I feel like something weird is going on.”
Fortunately, it seems that nothing at all weird went on and that McKinney just spent some extra time visiting friends in Orlando. On Thursday afternoon, he was reportedly on his way back to Ybor City.
But the 40-plus hours of non-communication was enough to worry his friends and his boss. McKinney works for a medical supplies company and when he didn't show for work Wednesday, his boss went to the police to seek help. While he wasn't gone long enough to file a missing persons report, detectives did start searching for him.
With the help of social networking, police had a good place to start.
Kyle O'Donnell, a friend of McKinney's who lives just a few blocks away, wasn't sure if he should be concerned about his missing friend or not. He just knew it was out of character for the 2010 graduate of the University of South Florida.
“He's a very responsible kid,” O'Donnell said. “That's why it's so out of character. The good thing is that he's tied to a lot of people and that he's well-liked. People have been pushing and tagging his picture on Facebook. That gave us some answers.”
O'Donnell added that when anyone tried to call his friend's cell phone, it would go directly to voice mail. On Thursday, however, it appeared the phone was back on.
“Now it actually rings,” O'Donnell said before learning that McKinney was on his way home. “Maybe he just went missing in action for awhile and wanted to get away”and we can kick his ass when he comes home.”
That's exactly what Mikula said he plans to do, now that he knows his roommate is safe.
