Michael Hewerdine, known locally as “Mick” or “Hewey,” was a thirty-two-year-old unemployed father of one. Described as five feet nine inches tall, of medium build, with short dark brown hair, he was a familiar face in Ruskington and nearby Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, often seen cycling between the two towns—about four miles apart—or spending time in local pubs playing darts and snooker, where he had won trophies.
On the evening of November 21st, 1996, Michael left his home in Ruskington around seven p.m., telling family he was going to meet people in Sleaford and would return by one a.m. He left the lights and heating on, suggesting he fully intended to come back.
That was the last confirmed sighting of him. He rarely ventured far from the local area, making his sudden vanishing all the more suspicious.
Initially treated as a missing person case, a review in 1999 led Lincolnshire Police to reclassify it as a murder investigation. Authorities believed Michael had connections to the local criminal community, which may have played a role in his fate. Over the years, several arrests were made in connection with the case, but no charges stuck.
The twentieth anniversary in 2016 brought renewed attention. Michael’s sister, Madeleine Judd, made emotional public appeals for information, describing the toll on the family: lives left “in limbo.” That year, new information prompted police to excavate a field near East Heckington, off the A17, where they believed his remains might be buried.
The two-week dig yielded nothing, and by 2017, police admitted they were no closer to solving the case or locating his body. As of 2025, nearly twenty-nine years after his disappearance, the case remains unsolved, with no significant public updates since the failed excavation.
Crime Immemorial 