It’s a common saying: “When one door closes, another door opens.”
And after reporter Jacqui Fulton was laid off at New Hampshire Public Radio after having worked there for about five years, that phrase rang true.
“I decided to go back to school and get a—a degree in audio documentary studies,” Jacqui told Dateline. She studied at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at the Maine College of Art & Design. “While there, we had to pick a story that was specific to Maine.”
Jacqui said she became interested in missing person stories after her stepson went missing for three days. “No one would help us look for him until we were out pounding the pavement. And it was, like, the scariest thing ever,” she said. “But, thank God, we found him and he’s safe.”
Jacqui said that experience opened her eyes to “how broken the missing person system is.” She also said that being part of the LGBTQ community led her to want to tell the story of a missing person who is also part of that community.
When Jacqui looked through the list of missing people in Maine, she didn’t have to look far until she came upon the name Colin Arey — a 26-year-old from Bucksport.
“He was, like, a quiet guy, more of an introvert and would play computer games a lot,” Jacqui said. “He didn’t drive. And in such a rural area, it’s hard to get around. But he did have a job -- a steady job -- and all of a sudden, he just didn’t show up for it.”
According to Jacqui, the last time Colin sent a message from his phone was on January 25, 2017. The message was between Colin and his ex-boyfriend Dung Cleveland-Tran. Dateline spoke with Dung who said the couple had been broken up for years before Colin vanished, but had maintained a friendship and talked often.
“He came from a rural, you know, town in Maine, but that definitely wasn’t his personality,” Dung told Dateline. “He went to fashion school in New York, and that’s definitely more fitting of his personality overall -- both his dramatic nature and his, just, big dreams.” Dung said that Colin had dreams of starting his own fashion line.
Dung and Colin met on a dating site while Colin was in New York for school. “He was different from all the other people I met before and that’s what made me pursue a relationship with him,” he said. They were a couple for two and a half years. “After we broke up, he moved back with his family.” Dung still lives in New York.
In 2017, about four years after their breakup, Colin and Dung kept in touch mostly online. So when Colin stopped answering his messages, Dung knew that something was wrong. “I sent him a message that I knew would get a response from him, knowing him for that long, and he didn’t respond,” he said. “And then I immediately suspected something was wrong.”
But Dung told Dateline he didn’t know what to do, especially since he didn’t have any contact with Colin’s family.
Marie Anderson is Colin’s aunt. She told Dateline that the family got increasingly concerned when they hadn’t heard from Colin in more than a year. “He was very close with my mom,” Marie said. “And then my mom [got] sick.” Charlene Arey was in and out of the hospital in 2018, suffering from congestive heart failure. The family had been trying to get in touch with Colin to tell him about his grandmother, but he wasn’t answering. “We could never get ahold of Colin,” Marie said. “He was never responding. There was nothing.”
According to Colin’s uncle, James Arey, the family thought Colin had moved back to New York. “We all thought he was happy, he was safe, he was loved,” James said. “We didn’t even think that, ‘OK, he’s missing.’”
James told Dateline that he was proud of his nephew. “He was a good kid. He was open about talking about certain things like school, fashion,” he said. “He liked designing all sorts of clothes, and he always tried to incorporate maroon and gold into his designs because he’s a big Harry Potter fan. I mean, he read the last book -- which was the thickest of them all -- in 24 hours.”
“He’s always been a private but outgoing person, that type that keeps details about themselves and their life secret from everybody else,” James said, which is why they initially weren’t too worried that they hadn’t heard from him in a while.
The family decided to report Colin missing in June of 2018.
Dateline spoke with Deputy Chief David Winchester of the Bucksport Police Department, who told Dateline that he was actually the one who took the missing persons report on June 25, 2018. Deputy Chief Winchester recounted the initial steps of the investigation that the Bucksport Police Department took. “His Aunt Marie came to see us and stated that members of the family had not heard from him in quite a period of time, and [there] were members of the family that were ill,” he said, referring to Charlene. “After the initial report, we found that family hadn’t heard from him in about a year.”
“I told my mom when she was dying, I [said], ‘We’re going to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to do this,’” Marie Anderson said.
Charlene Arey died on October 10, 2018. “We figured when our mom died, he’d show up or say something because he was her favorite grandchild,” James said. But Colin didn’t show up.
Authorities with the Bucksport Police Department looked for Colin, but were unable to track him down. “I looped in the Maine State Police just because we haven’t found Colin,” Winchester said. Dateline reached out to the Maine State Police for an update on Colin’s case, as well. Public Information Officer Shannon Moss told Dateline that they were unable to share any investigative details, as it is an ongoing case.
“We spoke with family and relatives and the last known sighting or the last person that saw him was Cole’s stepfather, who indicated to us that he had dropped him off,” Deputy Chief Winchester said. The stepfather told police that Colin was dropped off in Brewer and he was supposed to be starting a new job at a Sears in the Bangor Mall.
Deputy Chief Winchester told Dateline that several interviews with people in Colin’s circle have been conducted. “He was currently a single man, but he did have, obviously, friends and significant people in his life that were all contacted, and all of those interviews were done,” Winchester said.
Former boyfriend Dung Cleveland-Tran told Dateline that Colin had no substance abuse issues. “He actually didn’t do drugs at all or drink alcohol,” Dung said. He added that, to his knowledge, Colin didn’t struggle with depression, either. Dung said he believed Colin did not really want to be living in Maine anymore and had dreams of moving back to New York City. “He expressed wishes to do that, of course,” Dung said. “He didn’t have a set plan other than he was saving up money to do that at some point.”
“We live in a world where everything is done on a phone, social media, or the Internet,” Deputy Chief Winchester told Dateline. “There’s no young person in their ‘20s or ‘30s who doesn’t have some link to the Internet or social media.”
Officers with the Bucksport Police Department have looked into Colin’s digital footprint. “All of those avenues have been examined and there has been no trace of Cole at all,” Winchester said.
“My heart hopes he’s alive, doing well with loved ones and just doesn’t want to contact us,” James Arey said of his nephew.
Deputy Chief Winchester told Dateline that authorities have found no evidence that Colin is off living his life somewhere else. He said they “have no information to believe that this is a homicide” and declined to answer if they have any persons of interest or suspects in Colin’s disappearance.
But he did tell Dateline that their office is dedicated to solving Colin’s case.
“We are absolutely devoted to coming to an answer for the family. They want to know where their loved one is,” the deputy chief said. “And we’re in a community of 5,000 people. We’re a very small community. We’re a close-knit community. This stuff doesn’t happen here. I mean, this is something that is out of the ordinary for us. And we’ve been working on this case all of these years and it’s still active. The case file is currently sitting on my desk and has been there from the beginning.”
Jacqui Fulton, who made Colin’s case her school project, has since graduated from her audio documentary program, but she is not done with his case.
“This has turned into much larger than that. It’s like my other job,” Jacqui said. “It’s kind of more like an advocacy journalism type thing at this point because I’m actively involved in trying to make things happen.”
The next thing she’s trying to make happen is an official search for Colin. “To my knowledge, there have been no searches yet,” Jacqui said. “I’m actually organizing one that’s going to be on April 6.”
“We’ve got a bunch of folks online who are interested in volunteering,” Jacqui said. “We’re going to set up a grid search.”
According to Jacqui, they are going to be joined by local Maine cadaver dog handler Julie Jones and the DEEMI Search & Rescue team. They’ve also hired a private investigator from Northland Investigations to help.
Deputy Chief Winchester told Dateline he supports the search. “We support anything that anybody wants to do that would provide information on where Cole may be,” he said. “I think they’re doing everything through the proper channels. And again, I’m aware of it and I’ve asked her to keep us up to date on it.”
Deputy Chief Winchester confirmed that none of Colin’s belongings have been found at this point, and said police may be present at the search in April “to provide assistance if something should be found.”
Jacqui has printed missing posters for Colin that she has posted around Maine and created the “MISSING : Colin Arey” Facebook page, where she posts updates about Colin’s case and information about the upcoming search. She is also working on a full length podcast about Colin’s disappearance, called Doubly Dead.
The family told Dateline they are grateful for the support from Jacqui and the Bucksport community to help find their nephew. “I’m grateful we’ve been able to find people that are willing to help,” James Arey said. “And I’ll say thank you to every one of them right now: Thank you.”
Colin is about 5’9” tall and weighs 240 lbs. He has blonde hair and typically has a short, scruffy beard. Colin has no distinguishing tattoos or marks. He would be turning 34 years old this June.
Anyone with information about Colin’s disappearance is asked to call the Bucksport Police Department at 207-469-7951. Deputy Chief Winchester said people can also email him with information at dwinchester@bucksportmaine.gov. You can also call the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit — North at 207-973-3750.
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