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MOUNTAIN IRON—This past year has been filled with emotion for the family of Jeremy Lawrence, the Mountain Iron man whose disappearance remains unsolved.
Jeremy was last seen on August 20, 2023 and was riding a yellow and black Can Am four-wheeler, traveling between Duluth and the home of his parents, Debbie and Jerry Lawrence in Mountain Iron. He was 39 at the time.
The four-wheeler Jeremy was riding has distinctive black spray paint on the front fender and a black milk crate up front.
Jeremy is described as 6 foot 2 inches tall, weighing 200-225 pounds, brown hair (buzzed), hazel eyes and a scruffy beard. He was last seen in the Island Lake area.
The Lawrence family awaits for any news regarding Jeremy’s disappearance, and is now mourning the loss of their husband and father, Jerry Lawrence who died on Friday, August 9, 2024, at Essentia-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, according to an obituary published in the Mesabi Tribune. He was 71.
An active investigation is ongoing for Jeremy, led by the Duluth Police Department and there is a $5,000 reward being offered in this case.
DPD Investigator Nick Lepak declined to comment as the department does not comment on open and active investigations.
Sergeant Chad Larson said the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the investigation, and continues to follow up with any new leads as they come in.
Since his disappearance last August, there has been no trace of Jeremy, his ATV, his phone, and there’s been no activity on his bank cards, Debbie said in a phone interview in recent weeks.
“It’s just not like him,” she said.
“The strange thing about it is it seems like it was a long time ago, yet it seems like just yesterday,” Debbie said in a phone interview. “The grieving part of him being missing doesn’t seem to get better.”
“Every time there’s a memory, or a place he should be, there is grieving—sadness that comes over all of us.
Debbie said for Jeremy’s two children, nine and 11, it’s been especially tough.
As much as she wants answers, Debbie said it’s important for the kids, because it’s been difficult for them as they keep thinking their dad will come home.
“There’s always chance he might be —I just don’t feel it,” Debbie said. “It’s way too out of character for him.”
“I know Jeremy well enough that he’d never go off the grid and leave his kids,” she added, noting that up until he went missing he was in daily contact with either his kids or herself.
One of the many milestones the Lawrence family has experienced this past year without Jeremy was on June 29th, 2024, the date of Jeremy’s 40th birthday. At the suggestion of Jeremy’s children, they celebrated Jeremy’s 40 year milestone at the same restaurant they had celebrated his 39th birthday.
“It was so hard,” Debbie said.
Debbie said she sees Jeremy in his son, who “looks like him and acts so much like him.”
In the past year there have been a few leads from people who said they thought they saw Jeremy, or know where he is, but none have panned out.
Debbie recalled that at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2023 she received a text from Jeremy that read, “I’ll call you in a bit.”
As time went on, she became concerned and called him numerous times between 9 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.
“I called numerous times in a row,” Debbie recalled thinking Jeremy maybe didn’t hear his phone ring over the noise of the ATV engine.
Then someone answered and said, “stop calling,” leaving Debbie with a “very strange feeling” that he was somewhere with someone else.
Debbie said she called back at 11 p.m. and Jeremy’s phone went dead, and it never went back on.
Since then, Debbie said she’s had people ask her if it was Jeremy who answered.
“At that time I was positive it was him,” Debbie said. Now it’s one of many questions that runs through her mind.
Searches have been conducted by the St. Louis County Rescue Squad members and from some ATV clubs, but to no avail.
A Go Fund Me page, Finding Jeremy Lawrence was established to help pay for flyers, drone services, billboards, and hiring a private investigator and search parties.
Anyone with any information in this case is asked to call 911 or you can contact the Duluth Police Department at 218-730-5400.
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