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Wayne State Student Disappears After 'Getting Some Air' Outside Hometown Bar

Ken Gruno
Ken Gruno has been missing since Dec. 27. (police handout)

OTISVILLE, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - The search is on for a 27-year-old Wayne State University student who seemingly disappeared from outside a Genesee County bar, tipsy and needing some air.

Ken Gruno, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was home in Otisville for the holidays. While out with friends late last weekend, Gruno left his coat and debit card inside the Otisville Hotel Bar before he stepped outside. He hasn't been seen or heard from since.

"He was out at the bar with a group of friends from high school and then he was gone," Kelsea Etson, Gruno's wife, told WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "He came out for some fresh air and was talking to a friend outside, and they went inside to grab another friend because he [Gruno] wasn't talking all that coherently, and when they both came back outside he was gone."

Etson said video from a nearby store security camera shows Gruno walking in the middle of Jefferson Avenue around 1 a.m. Saturday.

"We have him on surveillance video waking down the road and he looked fine, he wasn't stumbling, he wasn't tripping, he wasn't getting pushed by anyone or anything like that, he was just walking calmly down the road," Etson said.

Since daybreak on Saturday, search teams have been checking ditches, sheds and trailers -- places where Gruno might have sought shelter.

"I don't believe," he just took off, Etson said, "especially to do it without his coat and stuff. He wouldn't just take off. He might have tried to go for a walk or something, but he wouldn't just take off to run away or anything like that."

Gruno is described as a white male, 5'11" tall and about 175 lbs. with blue eyes, dirty-blonde hair and large sideburns. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a gray flannel shirt with a vest and colorful bowtie, and slip-on work boots.

"He's not like this. He has quite a few friends and he likes to chill with everyone. He likes to play computer games and everything. He really likes his immediate family and he wouldn't, I just have a really bad feeling because he wouldn't just take off like this and not at least contact someone," Etson said. "He's always in contact with at least one person."

Michigan State Police are investigating Gruno's disappearance.

"After today if we don't find him, we don't know where else to go," Etson said. "It's awful. We're trying to remain hopeful but we have no idea where he could be, at all."

Anyone with information on Gruno's whereabouts is urged to contact police at 810-732-1111.

TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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