Until last month, Dan Carter’s life had never been much of a mystery to the people who know him best.

He’d always been the kind of guy with a schedule like clockwork: Up early for breakfast, to work by 6:30 or 7 a.m., back home to watch some TV before turning in early, usually by 6:30 p.m.

Once in a while, he’d take a quick trip to the other side of the mountains, but on weekends, he usually didn’t venture far from home in Bend. He’d play golf, shop for new additions to his sports card collection, make a weekly call to his mother.

When he didn’t turn up for work on Sept. 27, it didn’t take long for people to worry. Weeks later, after an investigation that included extensive searches from Bend to Eugene didn’t turn up any trace of Carter or his car, they’re still worried — and looking for answers.

Sunday, Carter’s 37th birthday, marked a month since he was last seen. “It’s kind of like he just vanished,” said Carter’s roommate, Shawn Criswell.

Carter’s history

If there’s anything Carter’s friends and family know for sure, it’s that he’s the last person they’d expect to take off for a big adventure without telling anyone.

Criswell, 38, met Carter about 15 years ago through a mutual friend who ran a miniature golf course in Bend.

Both were transplants to Central Oregon — Criswell had moved from North Bend as a teenager, and Carter had relocated to the area with his mother from Sacramento.

The pair started playing pool and hanging out on their days off. A few years later, after both men had found work at mills in Prineville, they decided to share an apartment.

On the weekends, they’d build up their collections of sports cards and Hot Wheels miniature cars or drive out to China Hat Road, south of Bend, and shoot cans.

For a while, Carter had a girlfriend. After they broke up, however, Criswell said his buddy seemed content to be on his own.

“He says, ‘I don’t want to put up with the drama,’” Criswell said.

Carter and Criswell stayed close when Criswell moved to Bend and later to Phoenix. When he came back to Oregon after a breakup with a girlfriend, Criswell again moved in with Carter, who was then living in a townhouse near Bend High School and working for Bend Construction Supply.

With few exceptions, Carter almost never missed a day of work during his 8 1/2 years with the company.

Co-owner Lisa Baker said Carter had filled several roles, from making deliveries to taking orders at the counter. For the past few years, Carter had suffered from back problems and more recently, problems with his heart, so Baker said she’d tried to keep him from doing any heavy lifting or other strenuous work.

This summer, when Carter developed a heart infection, doctors told him he needed to get antibiotic treatment at the hospital.

Baker said Carter wasn’t interested in being admitted to the hospital. He told doctors that he’d get the treatment, but only if he could come in every morning on his way to work.

“He didn’t miss work for anything,” she said. “He was very, very responsible. If he said he was going to do something, he did it, whether it killed him or not.”

Travel plans

A few weeks before he went missing, Carter finally had to be admitted to the hospital. After he was released, he took some time off to go to California to visit his family and recover at home.

“After he got out of the hospital, just walking from his bedroom to the chair in the living room sometimes wore him out,” Criswell said.

Back at work in September, however, Carter seemed to be on the mend. He mentioned to his boss and his mother that he was thinking of taking a day trip along the McKenzie Highway to check out the fall colors.

Bend Police Detective Faith Wiles, who is heading up the investigation into Carter’s disappearance, said Carter told his co-workers that he planned to drive over the McKenzie on Saturday, Sept. 25. When someone suggested that he take a more out-of-the- way route, Carter was adamant that it was too far to go in a day.

He didn’t mention his travel plans to Criswell, who last saw his roommate on the night of Thursday, Sept. 23.

The next morning, Carter got up and went to work before Criswell was out of bed. That afternoon, Criswell left home for his girlfriend’s home, where he planned to spend the weekend.

Criswell stopped back home at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. He thought it was odd that Carter wasn’t around, but nothing seemed out of place, so he figured his roommate had probably met up with another friend for dinner.

He called the friend’s cell phone, but didn’t get an answer. Later that night, he tried to reach Carter on the phone at their house, but he didn’t pick up.

Again, he shrugged it off, figuring that Carter had gone to sleep and couldn’t hear the phone.

But on Monday morning, when he came home, Criswell said he knew something wasn’t right.

A coffee pot was sitting out on the counter, just where it had been a day earlier — but Carter didn’t drink coffee before going to work. He usually read the newspaper over breakfast, but it was still sitting on the porch.

Criswell called Carter’s boss, who said he wasn’t there and hadn’t called in.

He looked around the house and saw that Carter’s work boots were still there, his toothbrush still in the bathroom.

The only things missing were his car, a white 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon, and his heart medication.

Someone called Carter’s mother, who said she hadn’t gotten a call on Sunday, as she did every week.

By Monday afternoon, they’d called police to report Carter missing.

The search

On Tuesday, Sept. 28, the case was turned over to detectives.

Wiles said the first step was gathering as much information as possible about Carter, his habits and his travel plans from the people who know him. They checked his phone and banking records, and found that he’d withdrawn some cash before leaving, but hadn’t used any cards or made any calls since he’d disappeared.

The most likely scenario seemed to be that he’d taken the trip he’d mentioned to his co-workers over the McKenzie Pass, so police shifted their focus to that area. An Oregon State Police trooper searched the area from the sky, and dozens of Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue volunteers and deputies fanned out over the area.

Lt. Scott Shelton of the Sheriff’s Office said his teams searched on foot and in vehicles and ATVs, driving about 1,700 miles and putting in about 350 hours of work.

Though the search has since been scaled back, Shelton said he personally drives through the area on a weekly basis and keeps in close touch with U.S. Forest Service staff, who have also been on the lookout.

He said it’s possible that searchers could have missed something — particularly in areas with more dense foliage — but he said it’s been a thorough effort.

Officials have also notified other people in the area to be on the lookout for Carter and his car.

“With bowhunting season, deer hunting season, there are a lot of folks off road,” Shelton said. “It’s kind of surprised me that if we missed something that one of those folks didn’t come across the vehicle.”

Wiles said she’s been in touch with law enforcement officials in Lane, Linn and Marion counties, who have checked stores, hospitals and casinos — where Carter occasionally enjoyed trying his luck — but didn’t find any indication that Carter had visited.

Carter’s family and friends have been doing plenty of investigation on their own, driving the pass and even asking convenience store owners to let them check out their surveillance footage. They set up a Facebook page and made up fliers, trying to solicit information from anyone who may have seen Carter.

Criswell said he was puzzled by how much money Carter apparently withdrew from his account: $500, which was more than he’d ever taken out on a trip to a casino.

“At this point, I’m not really sure what to think,” Criswell said. “I would like to think maybe he got tired of all the stuff with the doctors and said, ‘Screw it.’ Hopefully, he’s sitting in some strip club in Vegas having a good time. If he is, he’s in a lot of trouble, but at least he’s having a good time.”

Not giving up

At Bend Construction Supply, Carter’s co-workers are still handing out fliers with his photo and information about where he may have been headed. As they wait for any information, they’re all pitching in to pick up the slack from his absence.

Criswell was able to pick up the other half of the rent last month, but a few days ago, he had to move out. He packed up Carter’s belongings and put them in a storage unit.

He said Carter’s mother, who has been spending time in Bend, is devastated by what has happened.

Wiles said the case remains a priority, even as other work piles up on her desk.

“I think it just naturally scales back on its own,” she said. “As time passes, you eliminate leads, follow up on things that need to be done, contacts that need to be made. You prioritize from the beginning. A month later, we’re getting more into the small details.”

She said Carter’s case is more unusual than most involving missing people.

“Usually we locate them, or there’s some other factor or factors that are involved,” she said. “With this one, there’s no indication of foul play, no drug history, no history of this type of behavior at all.”

Baker said she’s holding out hope, but believes Carter’s heart trouble might have something to do with his disappearance.

“Nothing in him I’ve ever known about him would give you any indication he would just up and leave,” she said.