RENSSELAER — Two bloodhound dogs took Frank Connell’s dirty pants, went to various bars throughout the city and then led police to the city boat dock on Broadway. Then each dog jumped into the Hudson.
For 15 years now, Connell has been missing — and Rensselaer police are still searching for him.
Connell, who was 47 when he went missing, was last seen on April 20, 2007, at the former Den-Den’s Bar on Broadway. At the time, police said he drank a few beers that night at Gibson’s Bar on Broadway, then walked to Den-Den’s around 8 p.m. for a few more. He left Den-Den’s between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., and has not been seen since.
“The circumstances of Mr. Connell’s disappearance are unknown but believed to be suspicious,” Rensselaer police wrote in a press release Thursday.
Connell had been working as a Sheetrock installer for a local, family-owned business for 26 years, and rarely missed a day of work. When he didn’t show up to work and hadn’t called in, his employer and family knew something must be wrong and reported him missing.
When police visited his apartment at the time of his disappearance, there was no sign of foul play or struggle — and police said no rumors that have been spread over the years can be substantiated. Police also said there was no indication of Connell struggling with suicidal thoughts prior to his disappearance, based on interviews with family and friends.
“Frank did not make any mention of it, and his friends did not see any changes in behavior, or there was not a note or anything else to indicate this either,” police Sgt. Michael Deso wrote in an email.
At the time of his disappearance, police enlisted two bloodhounds to help track Connell’s scent. The dogs led police to the city boat dock before they both jumped into the Hudson. However, divers at the time stated that with the water conditions, Connell’s body likely would have obtained sufficient buoyancy to resurface well down the river.
Connell’s disappearance even attracted the attention of a local psychic, Ann Fisher.
“I had an officer accompany me and we walked up Broadway and went into the bars,” Fisher told the Times Union in 2008. “I did not get the feeling Frank was murdered.”
Nearly a year after his disappearance, the Carol Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation put up a $5,000 reward for information. By that point, however, the trail had gone cold.
On the first anniversary of Connell’s disappearance, his family published a short obituary in the Times Union.
“We miss you and think of you every day,” they wrote. “May your soul find contentment, may your suffering cease, may your memory last forever, may you finally find peace.”
Anyone with information on Connell’s whereabouts or disappearance is asked to contact Rensselaer police at 518-462-7451, or submit an anonymous tip through the city’s website.