Family Still Searching for Missing Wenatchee Man

A family is still searching for a Wenatchee man who went missing back in April, with law enforcement encouraging them to go to local media for more leads.

On April 22, 38-year-old Travis Coleman was last seen at his apartment on Montana Street in Wenatchee between 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Coleman’s mother, Denise McBurnie, was told that Coleman walked or hitchhiked back to his apartment early Saturday before disappearing again later that night. 

On April 21 around 9 a.m., Coleman went missing while working at a construction site on Yaksum Canyon River Road in Cashmere. He was carrying two bags with him in order to go on a natural detox in the woods.

It wasn't until 6 a.m. the following morning did McBurnie receive a call from her son, who told her he was thirsty, hungry, and lost. She and Coleman's girlfriend went to go looking for him.

McBurnie said they later found out that at around 9 a.m., Coleman was seen coming out of the Fairview area into a residential neighborhood, looking confused and smelling of smoke.

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According to her, two men found Coleman, who was going by the name of Bill, and dropped him off in Monitor.

At 12:30 p.m., she said Coleman called his girlfriend, who could not find him. By 2:45 p.m., he was able to make it back home before disappearing again a few hours later.

On April 25, a search party went out to the Saddle Rock area but found no signs of her son. 

On May 20, a search and rescue volunteer came to search the Castlerock area with a few other volunteers, however the search was unsuccessful, with extreme heat and steep terrain cutting the search short. 

Two weeks into her son’s disappearance, McBurnie received a text from a woman claiming a man with two bags knocked on her door on Kennedy Road back on April 21.

According to the text, Coleman was looking for a man named Richard. The woman later reported the instance to RiverCom, but no one came out.  

Because of this lead, the family was able to find both bags in the Fairview Canyon area. This also prompted Chelan County’s Search and Rescue teams to search roughly 100 acres within that area, but found no signs of Coleman.

McBurnie believes they need to search the foothills above the Wenatchee area west towards Fairview Canyon.

Wenatchee Police Captain Steve Crown informed her that those areas will receive an influx of mushroom hunters, hikers, and outdoor recreationalists within the next few weeks.

“Just raising awareness and letting people know that we're still looking for Travis is really important at this point,” McBurnie said.

McBurnie said they received word of two more potential sightings in the last three weeks:

On May 24, someone claimed to have seen a shirtless man matching Coleman’s description coming out of a blue tent near Clear Lake, but was gone by the time they checked. 

The family also received surveillance footage of a man stealing girl scout cookies off someone’s porch, but the footage was too blurry to determine whether that was Coleman.

They believe Coleman may be suffering from an acute mental health crisis, with McBurnie stating that he was undergoing symptoms of psychosis.

She claims to be having difficulty getting Wenatchee Police Department detectives to investigate her son's disappearance.

“The family feels that Travis chances of being found would have been dramatically increased, had the WPD detectives been willing to investigate and offer resources. Instead during the first few days of Travis disappearance, when the family met with them they were told that they could not offer services as Travis may be armed, was suffering from a mental health crisis, may be aggressive towards police, and had not committed a crime. So they would not search for him. Family stressed that he met the criteria for Endangered persons, as he was in imminent danger due to his mental health crisis.”

Newsradio 560 KPQ are currently waiting to hear back from the Wenatchee Police Department.

Coleman is approximately 5'10" tall and 180 pounds with dark brown hair and a brown and gray beard. Here is a more recent photo that law enforcement obtained of Coleman.

Those with more information on Coleman’s disappearance should email ddmcburnie@gmail.com or contact RiverCom's non-emergency line at (509)-663-9911.