After Grandfather of 5 Mysteriously Leaves Home and Vanishes, Family Speaks Out for Answers: ‘No Trace of Him’

Mike Hung feels like he’s living in a surreal world since father Miguel Hung, 71, disappeared last weekend after leaving his home in Raleigh, N.C.

“We’re just trying to maintain some level of hope and positivity,” an obviously distraught Hung tells PEOPLE. “You see it on TV and in movies, but you never expect it would be your family.”

According to Mike, his dad went missing sometime between the evening of Aug. 9 and early the next morning. He said his dad left with little more than the clothes on his back when he took his wife Pamela’s silver Mercedes and disappeared without his cell phone or wallet.

“And since then, there has been no trace of him,” Mike, 38, says. 

Raleigh Police Department Senior Detective Christopher Gay tells PEOPLE on Friday, Aug. 16, that the department is actively working the case, but Miguel is still listed as missing and there are no additional details.

“I do know that the state has put his name and vehicle information on message boards on the highway,” Gay says. “I’ve actually seen those coming to and from work. But we have no updates."

Mike says the week before his father's disappearance was particularly hard on his dad, as that's when Miguel's brother was laid to rest. Although it is a long shot, Mike says it is possible Miguel, whose family is mostly living in Florida, decided to go see them. (Mike says his dad's family in Florida are all aware of his disappearance and have been sharing the news on social media, looking for help.)

Miguel was only 14 when he left his family and friends behind to immigrate from Cuba. He bought his first home at 18 and worked hard to put himself through college.

“He gave up everything to chase a better life,” his son says. “My dad's overcome a lot in his life against the odds."

Friends, family and neighbors have been searching and seeking out anyone who might have home surveillance in an attempt to track Miguel. Mike's sister, Brittany Rutledge, 41, lives close by and has taken to social media to raise awareness and plead for assistance in locating her father and both she and her husband have been out searching.

"We're not going to give up because my dad would never have given up on us," he adds.

Mike says when they found his dad's cell phone in a drawer at home and discovered “literally hundreds of text messages.”

“They said, ‘Where are you?’ ‘What’s going on?’ They knew he was going through some depression and would take him out for lunches and things," Mike says, sharing that his father was part of a "tight-knit group."

Mike says his dad developed some mental health issues in the past few years after having a heart attack and bypass surgery in 2019, followed by a stroke in 2021.

His family says that after the stroke, Miguel began dealing with some aphasia. “It had a really big impact on him," Mike says. "None of this kind of behavior happened prior to those medical incidents.”

The father of two and grandfather to five young grandchildren retired from his job as a car salesman after his heart attack. He and his wife Pamela have been married for 45 years.

“He was always the happiest guy around, always joking, the life of the party,” his son says. “He was looking forward to his retirement and spending time with his family and traveling. So (his health issues) put a pretty big cloud over him and he struggled with that the last few years.”

Mike says there were no red flags at the time his dad disappeared and that it wasn’t unusual for him to get up in the middle of the night to grab a snack or go downstairs. After Miguel had gone missing twice before, Mike says his mom began keeping her husband's keys in her wallet, but the family believes he found a spare key to the car.

But Mike says his dad was gone for less than 24 hours the two prior times. Both time he came back home himself and told his family he had been in a nearby park.

“It was never the six days we are now experiencing,” he says.

Mike says his family is trying to hold on to the hope that his dad, his “best friend and the best man at my wedding," is still alive.

“He was always there for us. I just want to bring my dad home,” he says. “We want to help him with what he struggled with, to get him back to where he was before these health issues. But either way, we just need the peace of knowing."

The Raleigh Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in finding Miguel Gabriel Hung. He is driving a Silver 2016 Mercedes C300, with NC license plate number HFJ-6566. If you have any information, please call the Raleigh Police Department at 919-996-3335.