Two brothers disappeared in Alaska. 11 years apart. Neither one was ever found

Wasilla, Alaska. Small rugged town about 40 miles outside Anchorage.

The kind of place where the landscape is big and the weather doesn't care about you.

If you grow up here you learn how to survive the elements fast.

A Friday night. Graduation weekend.

15 year old Michael Palmer is supposed to be sleeping over at a friend's house.

Instead he slips out with three other kids. Hops on a bike. Heads to a late night graduation party about 9 miles away.

Nothing unusual. Parties everywhere that weekend. This is just one of many.

It's what happens after the party where things get unclear.

Around 4 AM the group heads home.Biking back through the dark.

Michael is riding a little behind the others. Not far. Just enough to lag. No yelling.

No crash. No sounds that suggest anything is wrong. At some point the others realize he's not behind them anymore.

They pull into a convenience store parking lot. Wait. Figure he'll catch up. He doesn't.

They assume he went home a different way.

At 4 in the morning that feels reasonable. Michael never gets home.

His mom starts calling around the next afternoon.

That's when it becomes clear. He's not at the friend's house either.

11 hours after he vanished, Michael Palmer is reported missing.

A bicycle is pulled from the Little Susitna River.

Troopers say it's his. His older brother Chris looks at it and says no.

That's not his bike.

And even if it were, Michael had no reason to be near that river.

The route home doesn't cross it.

Tracker dogs don't pick up his scent near the water. Searchers see nothing in the river.

It's clear enough that a body would have been spotted.

A pair of wet muddy Converse shoes is found near a private airstrip.

Same brand. Same size Michael wore. Not tossed.

Not scattered.

Placed neatly.

Like someone put them there.