ISAAC DANIEL SEIDEL: THE RIDE THAT NEVER CAME HOME
A fractured timeline. A missing bicycle. Dinner left waiting. And nearly five years of silence.
By RICHIE D MOWREY for The Sassy Gazette’s Dicking Around With Richie: A True Crime Feed
There are missing-person cases that begin with a scream.
A wrecked car.
A bloodstain.
A witness who saw too much.
Isaac Daniel Seidel’s case begins with something quieter.
A rural home in Perry County.
A dark green bicycle that vanished with him.
A cellphone that stopped telling the world where he was.
A backpack gone.
And raw chicken thawing in a kitchen where the man who planned to eat it never came back.
Isaac was 36 years old when he disappeared from Blain, Pennsylvania, in September 2021. He was an avid hiker and bicyclist who lived on a small homestead, tended gardens, kept animals, and reportedly moved through the nearby wilderness with the kind of confidence that comes from knowing the land.
Then something happened.
And nearly five years later, the public record still cannot tell us exactly when.
Pennsylvania State Police-linked reporting says Isaac was last seen around 6 p.m. on September 9, 2021.
NamUs lists his Date of Last Contact as September 12, 2021.
Three days.
Three whole days sitting in the center of the case like a blacked-out paragraph.
No clean explanation.
No public timeline that stitches the dates together.
No known witness publicly describing Isaac’s final bicycle ride.
Just a house left behind, dinner waiting, animals unattended, and a man who seemed to have vanished with the very things that should have left a trail.
And then there are the contradictions.
Friends later said Isaac had been going through changes before he disappeared. A breakup. A greenhouse reportedly dismantled. Books reportedly burned. A cat reportedly rehomed. A concerning text message that allegedly prompted a welfare check.
But back at the house, the scene told another story.
Chicken thawing in the sink.
A routine interrupted.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Jonathan Sullivan later said Isaac was not wasteful and would not have simply left that food sitting there.
So what are we looking at?
A man preparing to leave?
A man expecting to come home?
An accident hidden somewhere in more than 96,000 acres of rugged Tuscarora State Forest?
A voluntary disappearance?
A medical emergency?
Foul play?
Or something nobody has put together yet?
That is the trap in Isaac’s case.
Every answer creates another question.
Every clue seems to pull in two directions.
And somewhere between September 9 and September 12, 2021, the trail goes dark.
Isaac Daniel Seidel is still missing.
His dark green Cannondale bicycle is still missing.
His cellphone is still missing.
His backpack is still missing.
No body.
No bicycle.
No final confirmed route.
No publicly known digital breadcrumb leading investigators to an answer.
Just one unresolved disappearance stretching across the mountains of central Pennsylvania.
And one question that has been hanging over this case for years:
How does a man disappear with a bicycle, a phone, and a backpack without leaving behind one publicly known trace of where he went?
That is where we begin.
WHO ISAAC WAS
Before the Case File Swallowed the Man
Before Isaac became a missing-person poster, he was a person with soil under his fingernails, animals depending on him, miles beneath bicycle tires, and projects growing around him.
He lived alone on a small homestead on Three Springs Road in Blain, Jackson Township.
There were gardens.
A greenhouse.
Animals.
A pet pig.
He was described by family and Pennsylvania State Police as an avid hiker and bicyclist. It was reportedly normal for Isaac to spend long stretches outdoors, including in and around Tuscarora State Forest. But his independence had structure. According to accounts collected in the research, Isaac generally let people know when he planned to be away for extended periods and made arrangements for his animals.
Physically, Isaac stood approximately 6 feet tall and weighed around 150 pounds. He had brown to light-brown hair and blue eyes.
Over the years, a few biographical claims have been repeated online, including stories connecting Isaac to MIT, engineering, and international work.
Those claims do not hold up under the source review used for this article.
The research repeatedly encountered other men named Isaac Seidel, including a student-athlete and a culinary professional. It found no reliable evidence connecting the missing Isaac Seidel from Blain to MIT or an engineering degree.
That does not make Isaac’s life less interesting.
It makes getting his life right more important.
Because the quickest way to lose somebody twice is to let the internet rewrite who they were.
THE CAT, THE GREENHOUSE, AND THE BOOKS
The Details That Grew Teeth Online
Some of the most unsettling details in Isaac’s case did not come from a police affidavit.
They came later.
Friends speaking on The Vanished podcast described a period of change in Isaac’s life before he disappeared.
A romantic relationship had reportedly ended.
His friend Josh said Isaac had known one woman for years before briefly dating her twin sister, Emily. According to those interviews, the breakup affected him deeply.
Then came the behaviors that have since become central to online discussion.
Isaac reportedly dismantled his greenhouse.
He reportedly rehomed or returned his cat.
And he reportedly burned books from his personal collection.
That last detail in particular has taken on a life of its own.
“Isaac burned all his beloved books” now appears in internet conversations almost like an established police fact.
It is not.
The source trail in the research leads primarily back to friend interviews on The Vanished. The research file does not identify a Pennsylvania State Police release independently confirming the book-burning claim.
And we do not have enough public detail to know exactly what “burned his books” means.
All of them?
Some of them?
Boxes he no longer wanted?
A bonfire witnessed by friends?
An event days before his disappearance?
Weeks before?
Without that context, the phrase becomes more dramatic every time it is repeated.
The same caution applies to the cat and greenhouse.
They may be important.
They may tell us Isaac was changing something in his life.
But behavior is not a confession.
And hindsight is a dangerous little beast.
THE TEXT MESSAGE
A Welfare Check Behind a Locked Door
According to interviews later given by people close to Isaac, he sent a message to his ex-girlfriend’s sister shortly before he disappeared.
The exact words have not been publicly released in the source material reviewed for this article.
But the message was reportedly concerning enough that someone requested a police welfare check.
And then the public record goes dim.
We do not know exactly when the message was sent.
We do not know which agency performed the welfare check.
We do not know what officers saw.
We do not know what Isaac said.
We do not know whether he was physically present.
We do not know the official outcome.
The research file could not independently verify those details.
That makes the welfare check one of the most frustrating locked doors in this case.
Because if law enforcement had contact with Isaac shortly before he vanished, that could potentially give investigators a crucial snapshot of his condition, location, and circumstances.
The public simply does not have it.
THE EVIDENTIARY PARADOX
One House. Two Stories.
This is where Isaac’s case begins pulling against itself.
On one side:
Friends later described behaviors that could be interpreted as someone closing chapters.
The greenhouse reportedly came down.
Books were reportedly burned.
The cat was reportedly rehomed.
There had been a breakup.
There had reportedly been a concerning message.
On the other side:
Dinner was waiting.
Raw chicken sat thawing in Isaac’s kitchen.
His animals were left behind.
His normal routine, according to people who knew him, did not look like somebody carefully preparing never to return.
Both sets of information exist.
Neither erases the other.
And that tension is the beating heart of this case.
THE DATE PROBLEM
September 9 or September 12?
If there is one thing in Isaac’s disappearance that deserves a bright red circle around it, it is this.
Pennsylvania State Police-linked reporting says Isaac was last seen around 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, 2021, in the 1100 block of Three Springs Road in Blain.
NamUs lists September 12, 2021 as Isaac’s Date of Last Contact.
Family-centered materials and The Vanished also build the disappearance around Sunday, September 12.
Thursday.
Friday.
Saturday.
Sunday.
Three days.
That is not housekeeping.
That is potential investigative territory.
The research file proposes one possibility: September 9 may represent the last verified sighting, while September 12 may reflect the date Isaac’s absence was discovered or reported.
That is plausible.
It is not publicly proven.
The source material does not tell us whether September 9 came from an eyewitness, a transaction, phone activity, or another investigative marker.
It does not tell us whether anyone physically saw Isaac on September 12.
It does not tell us whether the timeline changed.
So the cleanest, most accurate statement remains:
The public record conflicts.
And until a primary source explains the difference, nobody should pretend otherwise.
THREE DAYS IN THE DARK
September 10 and September 11
If September 9 is the true last verified sighting, then September 10 and September 11 become two entire days with no publicly established activity.
No confirmed sighting.
No disclosed phone activity.
No known purchase.
No publicly released message.
No documented destination.
No established bicycle route.
Nothing.
Those days matter because they change the shape of the case.
The story is often told as:
Isaac went for a Sunday bicycle ride and never returned.
But if nobody saw him leave Sunday, and PSP considers Thursday the last confirmed sighting, then the better question becomes:
What happened during the seventy-two hours before everyone realized Isaac was gone?
That is a much bigger hole.
THE BIKE RIDE
A Journey Nobody Saw Begin
The most familiar version of Isaac’s disappearance says he left home for a bicycle ride.
But according to the research file, no publicly identified eyewitness is known to have actually watched him leave on the bike.
The bicycle theory appears to be based largely on what was missing from the home.
Isaac was gone.
His bicycle was gone.
His cellphone was gone.
His backpack was gone.
And Isaac was a regular cyclist.
That makes the conclusion reasonable.
It does not make it witnessed.
Isaac’s missing bicycle has been described as a dark green Cannondale with:
- straight handlebars,
- a water bottle holder or carrier,
- a small tool kit under the seat,
- and a rear storage rack.
No publicly known route was left behind.
No destination.
No itinerary.
No final trailhead.
And as of the research used for this article, the bicycle had not been publicly reported recovered.
THE ORANGE BAG
A Detail We Cannot Nail Down
Some circulating awareness material shows what appears to be a bright orange Simms bag.
The research could not independently verify that the backpack missing with Isaac was definitely that bag.
Officially reviewed source material consistently references a backpack, but does not clearly confirm its brand, color, or contents.
That does not mean the orange bag is wrong.
It means we should label it correctly.
Possible identifying detail. Not independently nailed down in the public record.
That distinction might look picky.
It is not.
When people are being asked to remember a bag from five years ago, accuracy matters.
DINNER WAS WAITING
The Kitchen That Refused to Make Sense
When Isaac missed work, loved ones became concerned.
They went to his home.
He was not there.
His bicycle was gone.
His backpack was gone.
And raw chicken had been left thawing in the kitchen sink.
This is not merely an internet anecdote.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Jonathan Sullivan publicly addressed it:
“Mr. Isaac Seidel had chicken thawing in the kitchen. He was not a wasteful person, and he would have not left that chicken out.”
That detail has become one of the most haunting pieces of the case because it is so ordinary.
Not a coded message.
Not a bloodstain.
Not a strange note.
Dinner.
The kind of thing you leave out because you plan to come back.
According to The Vanished, thawing chicken on Sunday fit Isaac’s usual meal-preparation routine.
If that account is accurate, the kitchen suggests interruption.
But even here, the timeline muddies the water.
If Isaac was last seen September 9, when was the chicken actually placed there?
Who knows that?
How?
Was it definitely Isaac who put it out Sunday?
Those questions remain unresolved publicly.
The chicken is evidence of something unusual.
It is not a clock.
WHEN ROUTINE BROKE
The Missed Work That Raised the Alarm
Isaac reportedly missed several consecutive days of work.
That was abnormal enough that people close to him became worried.
He was described as reliable, and while he might spend long periods hiking or cycling, he generally let someone know when he planned to disappear into the outdoors for more than a short stretch.
This time, he had not.
Loved ones went to his property.
They found the home empty.
The missing-person report followed.
NamUs lists September 12, 2021, as the date the case was reported to the investigating agency.
The Pennsylvania State Police case number is:
PA2021-1263691
Isaac’s NamUs number is:
MP86758
INTO THE WOODS
Searching a Landscape Built to Hide Things
The first theory was frighteningly ordinary.
A bicycle accident.
Maybe Isaac had been struck.
Maybe he went over an embankment.
Maybe he crashed somewhere below the line of sight.
Maybe a medical emergency stopped him on a remote trail.
Friends, family, and volunteers began searching.
Roadsides.
Ditches.
Ravines.
Trails.
Wooded terrain.
Drones reportedly searched from above.
The surrounding geography is brutal.
Tuscarora State Forest encompasses more than 96,000 acres of forest, unpaved roads, ridges, valleys, and remote trails.
That is enough wilderness to swallow a person from view.
But again comes the question that refuses to leave:
Where is the bicycle?
A person can fall into dense terrain.
A bicycle is a large object.
And after years of searching, neither has surfaced publicly.
NO SIGHTING. NO TRAIL. NO ANSWER.
The research found no publicly confirmed post-disappearance sighting of Isaac.
None.
No verified encounter.
No publicly disclosed investigated sighting leading somewhere.
No traditional-media report that produced a confirmed trail.
There was an internet suggestion that an unidentified deceased man found in Philadelphia might resemble Isaac.
A Reddit user reportedly submitted the possibility to authorities.
The research could not independently confirm whether the match was formally excluded.
Isaac remains listed as missing.
That belongs in the lead pile.
Not the conclusion pile.
THE MESSAGE IN THE FLOWERS
What Isaac Left Growing
Two years before Isaac disappeared, he reportedly planted 5,000 daffodil bulbs along the westbound shoulder of Route 581 in Mechanicsburg.
When spring arrived, the flowers spelled:
PROPAGATE LOVE ETERNAL.
It is the kind of detail that almost feels too poetic for a missing-person case.
But this was not something invented after Isaac vanished.
This was something he did while he was here.
And that matters.
Isaac’s relationship with gardening and the outdoors was already part of his life. He maintained gardens and a greenhouse, and photographs show him working among flowers.
Not a case file.
Not a theory.
Not a mystery.
Just Isaac.
Outside.
Hands busy.
Something growing.
The daffodil project required planning.
Thousands of bulbs.
Physical labor.
Patience.
Enough precision to create words visible to motorists.
What motivated Isaac belongs to Isaac.
We should not drag a gardening project into the witness box and make it explain a disappearance two years later.
The flowers are not evidence of his psychological state in September 2021.
They are not a prophecy.
They are not a suicide clue.
They are simply something real that Isaac put into the world.
Propagate Love Eternal.
Missing-person cases have a terrible habit of swallowing the people inside them.
Every hobby becomes a clue.
Every habit becomes evidence.
Every old photograph gets dissected until an ordinary life starts looking like foreshadowing.
We do not have to do that here.
The flowers can remain flowers.
A roadside message.
A project.
A piece of Isaac that existed before anyone knew his name from a missing-person poster.
THEORIES, THEORIES & MORE THEORIES
What Fits, What Doesn’t, and What We Still Cannot Prove
No theory has publicly solved Isaac’s disappearance.
So we do not pick a favorite.
We examine the evidence.
And we keep the word theory attached.
ACCIDENT
The accident theory has obvious support.
Isaac cycled on rural roads and trails.
The terrain around his home includes steep slopes, ravines, woods, and limited-shoulder roads.
The thawing chicken may indicate he intended to return home.
Isaac’s aunt Carol has publicly leaned toward the possibility that an accident occurred.
The problem:
No bicycle.
No wreckage.
No confirmed remains.
No trace.
Could both Isaac and the bike remain concealed in difficult terrain?
Certainly possible.
Has the public record proven that?
No.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Could Isaac have suffered a sudden medical event in remote terrain?
Possible.
A heart problem.
A severe reaction.
Heat.
Dehydration.
An injury.
The forest could hide someone who became incapacitated off trail.
But the public record used for this article does not establish a known medical condition that made Isaac especially vulnerable.
And once again:
The bicycle remains missing.
VOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE
Isaac’s outdoor skills could theoretically have helped him survive away from ordinary society.
Some of his reported pre-disappearance behavior has fueled speculation that he intended to leave.
His aunt even acknowledged publicly that it was possible he chose to disappear.
But a planned disappearance should usually leave some kind of preparation trail.
Cash.
Transportation.
Identification.
Purchases.
Travel.
Contact later.
The public record does not show those things.
And then there are the animals.
And the chicken.
A scene that looks less like a planned exit and more like something interrupted.
FOUL PLAY
Foul play lives in this case because the absence is so complete.
A rural road.
A bicycle.
A confrontation.
A hit-and-run.
A panicked driver.
Someone removing both Isaac and the bike.
All of that is imaginable.
None of it has been publicly established.
Pennsylvania State Police have not publicly identified a suspect.
No homicide classification has been announced.
No publicly confirmed struggle has been revealed.
The lack of evidence cannot be used as evidence of foul play.
It is simply another unanswered question.
THE DARKEST THEORY
Public discussion has also focused on suicide.
That theory is largely driven by the reported breakup, the rehoming of the cat, dismantling of the greenhouse, burned-books claim, and the reportedly concerning text.
Those facts deserve consideration.
They do not deserve to be turned into a diagnosis after the fact.
The public has not seen the text.
The welfare-check result remains unclear.
The source file does not establish publicly documented clinical depression.
Isaac’s aunt publicly expressed doubt that he would harm himself.
And again, dinner waited.
That does not rule suicide out.
It does not prove it either.
The responsible conclusion is the same one we keep reaching:
We do not know.
THE VANISHED
Two Episodes That Changed the Public Story
In June 2022, The Vanished devoted two episodes to Isaac.
Episode 348: Isaac Seidel Part 1, A Simple Life
and
Episode 349: Isaac Seidel Part 2, The Last Ride
The episodes featured Isaac’s sister Megan and friend Josh and brought many intimate details into the public conversation.
The breakup.
The greenhouse.
The books.
The cat.
The concerning message.
The welfare check.
The Sunday routine.
Those episodes are invaluable for understanding what people close to Isaac remember.
But they are not police reports.
When a detail comes only from a podcast interview, we should say so.
Because once a recollection gets repeated by Reddit, Websleuths, blogs, videos, and another podcast, it starts wearing a fake badge.
Source labels matter.
THE INTERNET PUTS ON A BADGE
And Suddenly Everybody Is a Profiler
Isaac’s case has generated discussion across Reddit, Websleuths, Facebook, and podcast communities.
Some of those discussions raise legitimate questions.
Some preserve old links.
Some bring attention back to Isaac.
Some are useful lead generators.
And some wander straight into psychological fan fiction.
One Reddit theory proposed that the thawing chicken was deliberately staged as a red herring to conceal a suicide.
There is no evidence establishing that.
Other discussions bundle the breakup, cat, greenhouse, and books together as if they collectively prove intent.
They do not.
Those behaviors may matter.
They may not mean what outsiders think they mean.
And the entire point of investigating is to resist the temptation to make the ending fit whichever clues bother us most.
A Reddit comment is not evidence because it got upvoted.
A Websleuths theory is not a finding because it sounds plausible.
A podcast interpretation is not forensic proof because the music underneath it was spooky.
Isaac deserves better than that.
THE VOICES LEFT BEHIND
The People Still Asking Where Isaac Went
In a case full of theories, the people closest to Isaac keep returning to something much simpler.
They want to know where he is.
Trooper Jonathan Sullivan said:
“Mr. Isaac Seidel had chicken thawing in the kitchen. He was not a wasteful person, and he would have not left that chicken out.”
Isaac’s aunt Carol described the nightly weight of uncertainty:
“Every day you think ‘Where is he?’ I lay in bed at night and I’m like ‘Isaac where are you?’”
And then came the sentence that says almost everything about what years of not knowing can do to a family:
“I’d rather know if he’s gone and be able to close than continue to wonder.”
That is not giving up.
That is what ambiguity does after enough years.
It turns the worst answer into something a family may still prefer over no answer at all.
WHAT HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND
Four Missing Pieces
As of the research assembled for this article:
ISAAC DANIEL SEIDEL
Missing.
DARK GREEN CANNONDALE BICYCLE
Missing.
CELLPHONE
Missing.
BACKPACK
Missing.
The public status of Isaac’s wallet, identification, keys, and certain other possessions remains unclear in the reviewed official material.
That inventory is staggering precisely because it is so small.
One man.
One bicycle.
One phone.
One bag.
Not one publicly recovered piece leading investigators to a final route.
THE MISSING PIECES
Questions Still Sitting on the Desk
Strip away the theories.
Strip away Reddit.
Strip away the podcast interpretations.
Strip away the urge to make the story behave.
These are the questions still standing:
Who actually saw Isaac last?
Was September 9 based on a witness?
A phone ping?
A transaction?
Something else?
What happened September 10?
What happened September 11?
Why does NamUs list September 12 as the date of last contact?
Did anyone actually see Isaac leave on the bicycle?
When exactly was the chicken placed in the sink?
Where was Isaac’s cellphone last active?
Did investigators obtain tower data?
What happened during the welfare check?
What exactly did the concerning message say?
Was his backpack the orange Simms bag appearing in later awareness material?
Where is the bicycle?
Where is Isaac?
Those are not rhetorical questions.
Those are holes in the public record.
WHAT CAME NEXT
Five Years and Counting
2021
Isaac disappeared in September.
Pennsylvania State Police opened missing-person case PA2021-1263691.
Search efforts expanded around Three Springs Road, rural roads, ravines, trails, and Tuscarora State Forest.
Isaac was entered into NamUs on November 30, 2021.
2022
The Vanished released its two-part series in June.
Pennsylvania State Police issued a renewed public appeal later that year.
2023
FOX43 revisited the case and again reported the September 9 last-seen date, showing that the date conflict had not simply disappeared with time.
2024 THROUGH 2026
Isaac remained missing.
Awareness campaigns continued.
No publicly announced physical evidence brought the case to a conclusion.
$7,500 FOR THE PIECE THAT BREAKS THE SILENCE
A $7,500 reward has been publicized for information connected to solving Isaac’s case.
According to the research file, the reward is associated with Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers and family efforts.
Five years can make people underestimate memory.
Do not.
Someone may remember:
A cyclist.
A green bicycle.
A vehicle stopped oddly along a road.
A bag.
A conversation.
Something discarded.
Something found in the woods.
A detail that felt meaningless in 2021.
Sometimes cases break because somebody finally realizes that the thing they almost forgot was the thing investigators never knew.
IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING
Nearly five years have passed since Isaac disappeared.
That is long enough for memories to blur.
Long enough for somebody to tell themselves:
It probably wasn’t important.
Long enough for an odd detail to get buried under thousands of ordinary days.
But buried is not gone.
Isaac is still missing.
His bicycle is still missing.
His phone is still missing.
His backpack is still missing.
If you saw Isaac in September 2021, call.
If you remember a cyclist on Three Springs Road, call.
If you saw a dark green Cannondale bicycle somewhere unusual, call.
If someone told you something years ago that never quite sat right, call.
If you found something near a trail, ravine, roadside, creek, wooded area, or remote road that might be relevant, call.
Do not decide whether investigators need it.
Let investigators decide.
You do not need to solve the case.
You only need to hand over your piece.
HOW TO REPORT INFORMATION
The research file lists the following contact information as current as of 2026:
Pennsylvania State Police
717-567-3110
717-671-7623
Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers
1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477)
PSP Case Number: PA2021-1263691
NamUs: MP86758
Family awareness efforts continue through Find Isaac Seidel on Facebook.
THE ROAD ENDS HERE
For Now
There are facts in this case that feel almost designed to contradict each other.
A man reportedly making major changes to his life.
Dinner thawing because he apparently expected to come back.
A Thursday last-seen date.
A Sunday date of last contact.
A bicycle ride nobody is publicly known to have watched begin.
A forest big enough to hide almost anything.
A bicycle that should be easier to find than a person.
Five thousand daffodils planted years earlier to spell:
Propagate Love Eternal.
And then silence.
Maybe Isaac suffered an accident somewhere nobody has searched closely enough.
Maybe another person crossed his path.
Maybe he chose to leave.
Maybe the answer exists inside phone records the public has never seen.
Maybe somebody already knows the truth and has spent five years trying not to think about it.
We do not know.
And that matters.
Because true crime does not become more truthful when we make uncertainty sound certain.
Isaac’s case does not need a dramatic ending written for him.
It needs the real one.
Until then, the questions stay open.
The bicycle stays on the missing list.
The family keeps waiting.
And Isaac Daniel Seidel remains missing.
SOMEONE KNOWS SOMETHING. SAY IT.
Thanks for dicking around with Richie. Keep being a voice for the voiceless. 🦋
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