Michael August Cannon -- Missing Since December 25th, 1966 From Hawaii
This article is part of a series that looks at missing trail hikers. Click the "trail hiking series" hashtag at the end of this blog to see all thematically related articles.
Michael August Cannon left his family's Kahala home in Hawaii early Christmas morning in 1966. He left a note stating that he planned to hike on Tantalus. His empty car was found at the top of Tantalus the next morning. The resulting search and rescue mission, which at the time was the largest and most expensive ever in Hawaii, failed to find Michael. However, his vehicle was found at Tantalus trailhead the next morning. This vehicle had his jacket in it and five dollars. The doors were locked.
Missing Person: Michael August Cannon
Last-contact date: December 25th, 1966 -- left a note in the morning, he may have been seen on the Tantalus Trail at about 5pm later that day (HSB Jan 3 1967 A-1A), however, I considered sightings of this missing person to be tenuous
The area where the MP was last seen: Honolulu, Hawaii
Link to government source: NamUs MP
VITAL DETAILS
Ethnicity: White or Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 18 years old
Birthdate: Michael August Cannon was born between December 26th, 1947, and December 25th, 1948 based on his reported age at the last date of reported contact.
Hair: Brown, short-cropped and curly
Eyes: Brown
Scar: None indicated
Height/weight: 5'11" and 165 to 175 pounds
BMI*: Michael August Cannon was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Michael August Cannon did not have any tattoos associated with his profiles.
Michael August Cannon was last heard from on December 25th, 1966 when he was 18 years of age. This individual has now been missing for about 55 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.
A couple things stood out to me while researching this missing person case. Firstly, he went missing on Christmas Day. Often, the holidays at the end of the year are a time of celebration but there is a lot of depression at that time of year as well. However, I didn't really find anything mentioning depression or despondence with this missing person. He seemed to have a bright future that he was looking forward to.
One detail that stands out with this case is that Michael Cannon had a share in a $2,750,000 inheritance at the time of his disappearance ($5.5M; half went to mother, mother left the other half to her children). According to SmartAsset.com, $1,000,000 in 1966 would be worth $8,269,865 in 2021. Accordingly, $2.75M would now be worth $22,742,128.75. He was not the sole inheritor to this amount but was one of five grandchildren to a "chemical magnate" who made a fortune.
The area where the hiker went missing is one that I'm familiar with from another case. Michael's car was found at Tantalus trailhead on December 26th, 1966. In more recent times, Wynn Lindsey went missing in the same area. Lindsey's car was also found near a trailhead. One difference is that Michael's doors were locked while Lindsey's car had a door open.
Michael Cannon remains lost, however, he is not lost without a trace. A shirt of his was found, the only result of a well-financed expedition over ten months that included ground searchers, "professional mountaineers from California," "search dogs from Canada," and some not-so-helpful psychics and something called "map-reading mystics." As soon as you see psychics or 'mystics' involved in a search, don't be surprised if the person isn't found: it means someone that doesn't have a scientific mentality is influencing the search. 
16 Jul 1997, Wed Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Hawaii) Newspapers.com
The shirt that was found seemed like a tenuous connection to Michael to me. It was found tied to a bush by a man named Richard Davis. Also, there were people that thought they saw someone matching his description, however, these sightings seemed tenuous to me.
The possibility that Michael disappeared intentionally was mentioned in many articles, often as an opinion of the police. It's hard to imagine someone giving up such a large inheritance, in my opinion. Furthermore, police, in my opinion, seem keen to believe in whatever hypothesis is easiest on their budgets. If Michael is missing voluntarily, then what need is there to search? It's an easy way out for them. Michael's mother was adamant that he remained on Oahu in all sources that I encountered.
I did some research on the trail that he went missing on, the Tantalus Trail. It seemed that in 1966 there was Tantalus Trail 1 and Tantalus Trail 2.
I found one case that shared some details from about the same time. A man with similar demographics to Michael went missing in what I think is the same trail network a few months earlier. I don't know if he was ever found. In addition to similar demographics, the man's car was found locked just as Michael's was. Tantalus Trail is mentioned in the article.
Michael Cannon was associated with a lot of clothing articles and/or possessions. Note the following with this case: 'Blue jeans', 'tan hiking bootsa white t-shirt with "Judson School" (of Scottsdale, AZ) on the front', 'Olive-drab backpack', 'canteen', 'high energy candy bars', 'Polaroid camera', 'first aid kit in a blue-and-white plastic case', and a map of the trail area.
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Popular Tag: "Car Found Person Missing" is a popular tag for this site. It describes a missing person who either owned or was using a vehicle at the time of his/her disappearance. The vehicle is found but the person is not. Click the hashtag at the bottom of this blog post to see just how many times this pattern is present in missing person cases.
Author: Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths)
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.
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Website hashtag: #MPCSL
*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources. Details may be added.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing persons case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.
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