Missing Man Last Seen In Ocean City

Lance Corey Gains

Written by

Scott Muska
Staff Writer

OCEAN CITY -- Police, family and friends are searching for a 22-year-old man who has been missing for nearly a week and was last seen at an Ocean City bar.

Lance Corey Gaines of Groton, N.Y., hasn't been heard from since the night of Friday, April 20. Ocean City police said he was last seen at Sandbar on 33rd Street at about 1 a.m. Saturday, April 21. One of the 20 or so friends and relatives who have traveled to town since then to form a makeshift search group said he had gone out for a walk and to the bar alone.

Gaines is 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. When he was seen at the bar, he was wearing a dark gray hooded sweatshirt.

Gaines was on vacation with his family and was staying at the Bay Club Resort on 32nd Street for the weekend. Family members said he sent a text message to his girlfriend just after midnight.

His father, John Gaines, said his other son had spoken to a woman who works at Madison Beach Motel on North Baltimore Avenue who saw someone in the area on Monday afternoon who matched Lance Gaines' description, but that's the only additional lead they've gotten.

"My son talked to her, and she had details she couldn't really have had (if she hadn't seen him)," said John Gaines on Thursday. "So we're pretty confident, we think we have a likely sighting on Monday."

OCPD spokeswoman Jessica Waters confirmed a tip had been received from someone claiming they saw Gaines or someone who matches his description, but there hasn't been a confirmed sighting since his disappearance, despite police outreach and investigation and the hundreds of fliers and inquiries friends and family have been making into Lance Gaines' whereabouts.

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