Macin Smith, a likable, yet quiet & reserved teenager, loved nothing more than retreating to his room and losing himself in anime.
Macin had a deal with his parents- get good grades, and he can watch some anime on weekdays. And in August of 2015, Macin was doing just that. He had started a new school that year in St. George, Utah, and on August 31, 2015, Macin texted his mom a picture of his grades to let her know he was doing well.
When he got home from school that afternoon, his dad wanted to take Macin out for a driving lesson. At age 17, Macin still had no interest in driving and told his dad he had a headache and maybe some other time.
He retreated to his room, where he would stay for the rest of the evening.
The next morning, September 1, 2015, Macin’s father, Darrin, knocked on his door to wake him up for school around 7:00 a.m. Darrin then went back to bed, where he said they heard Macin get up they heard him in the kitchen, and they heard him leave the house at 7:40 to catch the 7:45 a.m. bus that morning.
Macin would never be seen or heard from again.
Where is Macin Smith?
Macin Smith was born on April 7, 1998, to mom Tracey, and Dad, Darrin. He was the youngest of six children, and his older siblings took him under their wing for a while, playing with him, taking care of him, and spending time with him.
When he was young, it was quickly learned that Macin had a speech impediment. Specifically, he was diagnosed with speech aphasia.
Aphasia is typically a symptom of something else, but we don’t have more details on any other condition that Macin may have had, so we’ll have to presume it is just a speech disorder he was born with.
Someone with Aphasia may:
- Speak in short or incomplete sentences
- Speak in sentences that don’t make sense
- Substitute one word for another or one sound for another
- Speak unrecognizable words
Some people described Macin as sometimes speaking with slurred speech. When he was young, he was very close to one of his sisters, because she was the only one who could understand him. The family would often rely on her to help them understand Macin, and Macin would also go to her more than anyone else. She describes him as and I quote, ‘my little buddy’.
Macin would have speech therapy and his speech did improve drastically over time. However, he would still struggle in school with his peers, and in middle school, he was picked on and bullied.
Macin, who was a quiet kid- possibly because of his Aphasia- had a hard time with this and suffered from depression. His mother also suffered from seasonal depression in Alberta, Canada, and when Macin was 17 years old, the family decided to move down to St. George, Utah for a fresh start, better weather, and to be closer to his mom’s Mormon community.
Macin’s older siblings were grown and on their own, so Macin and his mother relocated to St. George, and his father, Darrin, followed a couple of months later.
Macin was still a loner, and an introvert, and his main hobbies and enjoyment in life revolved around writing music, playing video games, and watching anime.
His parents had made a deal with Macin. As long as he got good grades in school, he could watch anime during the week. His mom at one time said Macin was almost ‘obsessed’ with anime, and they were a little worried, especially because of its dark content, and hoped to keep Macin interested in other hobbies as well.
For those who aren’t aware, Anime is a Japanese cartoon art form, and can often have dark themes or tones.
But, the move to St. George had seemed positive for Macin and he seemed happy. Everyone in the family and those that knew him thought he had adjusted well, and believed the move had been very good for him.
Macin was just a couple of weeks into the school year, but his grades were very good.
In fact, on August 31, 2015, when Macin was on his way home from school, he texted a screenshot of his grades to his mother. Macin and his mom were very close, Macin was said to be a ‘Mama’s Boy’, and his mother was the person he texted the most.
Macin knew these grades would mean he could go home to watch Anime- however, his dad was home when he got home and had other plans. He wanted to take Macin out for a driving lesson.
Even at 17, Macin had no interest in learning to drive or getting his license, but his dad was trying to encourage him. When Macin walked in at 3:30 p.m., his dad was waiting with the keys. Macin was not interested and told his dad he wasn’t feeling well and asked if they could do it another day. His dad relented, and Macin went to his room.
Later that evening, Tracey got home from work and went to check on Macin. She found Macin lying in the dark in his room. He told his mom he was fine, just had a headache, and she let him be.
That night, around 10:00 p.m., Tracey unplugged the internet. Macin had a curfew of 10:00, and this included being on the internet. It was common practice for Tracey to unplug the internet, and in fact, she usually took the entire chord and hid it for the night so Macin wouldn’t try to sneak back online. But this particular evening, she said she was feeling lazy and just unplugged it.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Darrin woke up. He said he had a feeling that Macin might have snuck up to plug the internet back in, and sure enough, Darrin found Macin online. According to Darrin, he told Macin to get off and go to sleep, and Macin did without a fuss at all. However, Darrin took Macin’s phone and laptop from him that night.
The next morning, September 1st, Darrin woke up and as their usual routine, he went and knocked on Macin’s door to wake him around 7:00 a.m. Macin said he was up, and Darrin went back to bed.
Both Darrin and Tracey, who had remained in bed, said they heard Macin that morning in the kitchen, and then at 7:40, they heard the garage door, which meant Macin was on his way to the bus stop.
Eventually, Darrin left for the gym that morning, and Tracey woke up and went to work.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Darrin returned home after the gym and worked in the yard for the majority of the day.
Around 3:15, he expected Macin home and he had hoped they could go out for a driving lesson that afternoon. However, it was soon 3:30 and there was still no sign of Macin.
Darrin texted Tracey to let her know that Macin still wasn’t home. She wondered if he was upset about possibly having to go driving, or upset over the events the night before. She couldn’t text him, because they had taken his phone the night before.
They waited a while longer, and there was still no sign of Macin.
Tracey came home and they decided to go into Macin’s room, but his door was locked. They popped the lock, and went into the room, but found no clues as to where Macin may be.
Tracey then logged onto her computer and realized she had an email from the school. Macin had not been in school that day.
Tracey went from worry to panic. Where was her son?
Macin was newer to the school, and because he was also very quiet and reserved, he didn’t have any close friends. She went through his phone anyway and texted every one of his contacts to see if they had seen him. No one had.
Later that evening, after they’d exhausted all other efforts, they reported Macin missing.
Police did take the parents seriously, however, they all believed that Macin had run away. He had been in trouble the night before, and they thought he was just upset. Macin had also run away once before, two years prior while living in Canada. However, the night he ran away was exceptionally bitter cold, and he came home on his own after being gone just a few hours.
Law Enforcement on duty in St. George that night kept their eyes open for Macin throughout their shift. No one noticed anything.
The next day was September 2, and Tracey decided to go through Macin’s room more thoroughly.
She ended up finding the school books that he normally took to school every day, hiding under a pile of clothes in his room. As if trying to hide them, or delay someone finding them. She also found his wallet, with his money and ID.
This was a new level of panic because if he did indeed intend to run away, why wouldn’t he take his wallet with his money and ID?
On this day, some people came forward and said that they saw someone who matched Macin’s description standing at a gas station near an on-ramp to Highway 15. Macin is a blond-haired, blue-eyed, 6’4” inch teenager. He has a distinct look and is pretty tall.
Highway 15 was the highway that ran straight from St. George to Las Vegas. This boy was holding a sign indicating he was trying to get to Las Vegas. When police went there to investigate, they didn’t see anyone.
They requested the surveillance footage from the station, but it would be a while before they could receive it.
Meanwhile, they also received a separate tip that someone thought they saw Macin in Las Vegas. Darrin didn’t wait for the surveillance footage to come in, he hopped in his truck and made the two-hour drive to Las Vegas immediately, but found no signs of Macin
The investigators received the CCTV footage from the gas stations in that area the next day, and confirmed the young man people had seen was not Macin Smith.
Searches were taking place all over St. George as people in the community learned of Macin’s disappearance.
St. George is a beautiful area of Utah, near the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, and in particular, just down the street from Macin’s house, was a very rocky area, with high drop-off cliffs.
The main consensus was that Macin had run away.
About a week after Macin was last seen, Tracey goes through Macin’s wallet once more and finds a folded-up note. It was three pages long, and it made Tracey’s heart stop while reading it. While the note has never been made public, what we do know, is in that note, Macin talked about harming himself, and specifically said, “I’m done.”
The search for Mason intensifies as a new possibility enters people’s minds. Did Macin run off to harm himself?
It was also learned that Macin had thoughts of suicide before and had been hospitalized for about 10 days while living in Alberta, Canada.
Red Rock Search and Rescue became involved and began searching areas near Vegas and St. George.
Sightings would come in from all over. One, in particular, had the family hopeful. Two girls were eating at a Panda Express about two hours from St., George, and were approached by a young man. This young man was quite tall, had blonde hair, and had a mild speech impediment. He had asked their girls for any spare change so he could get on the bus.
The girls said he was very nice and polite, and they gave him all their change. When they told their mother about the encounter, the mother thought he sounded just like Macin Smith- a young boy she had heard about missing from St. George. She showed them a photo, and they believed it could have been the same boy. They called authorities, who immediately tried to request surveillance from Panda Express, but found out their system had not been working at that time.
Tracey was able to play a voicemail recording for the girls, who agreed it was him.
However, police said they later ruled out the possibility that the young man was Macin.
Some sightings came in from California, and Tracey felt that was a possibility as Macin always talked about living in California.
As people began to wonder if Macin ran away, or had intentions to harm himself, others began to question the parents. While they seemed sincere, especially Tracey, who was also very visibly devastated, Darrin stayed out of the public eye as much. Tracey was also a Mormon and part of the Mormon community, but Darrin was not.
And police learned something that didn’t fit with the timeline. They confirmed Darrin went to the gym the morning of September 1 as he said, however, his gym card shows him swiping in at 7:45 a.m. Remember, Macin left the home at 7:40 a.m., and Darrin said he hadn’t seen him because he was back in bed. How did he make it to the gym so quickly?
There has never been an explanation given to the public to help explain this.
Investigators also put a tracking device on Darrin’s truck for 60 days, without Darrin knowing. After the fact, Darrin found out and said he didn’t care. He had nothing to hide, and if it helped remove suspicion from himself and get the investigators back out there looking, that was all he cared about.
Law Enforcement said they found nothing useful, incriminating, or suspicious during the 60 days they tracked Darrin.
Police also took Macin’s electronics to see if they could find anything on them. But his entire search history had been erased.
So what are the theories in this case?
Theory #1:
Macin ran away. This is what Macin’s mom Tracey believes. To this day, she thinks her son is still out there, possibly in California, and she hopes one day to find him, or that he will come home. Macin did express interest in California and had run away at least once before. And with the sheer lack of evidence, police haven’t ruled this theory out either. But it begs the questions:
- Why didn’t he take his wallet with his ID and cash?
- How is he living and supporting himself?
- Did he have help?
- This would have happened over 6 years ago, and Macin is legally an adult now. Why not come home or at least let his family know he is okay?
Honestly, I probably would have leaned toward this theory in the first year of his disappearance, but the fact that it’s been so many years makes me wonder. How has he not been found? He has a unique look and a recognizable speech pattern. And he’d be 23 years old now, almost 24. There is no reason to hide. Unless, of course, he is afraid of something.
So I don’t know. I suppose this theory is still a possibility.
Theory #2:
Macin harmed himself. There is as much to this theory as the runaway theory. Both he had done before. There was evidence in the note he wrote that he was at least thinking about it. He had been in trouble the night before, and he had taken nothing with him when he left.
It seemed that his electronics and his anime were a coping mechanism for him. Could his dad taking them away from him set him off? Or, could there have been something going on at school that his family wasn’t aware of?
In any event, while this theory is possible, where is he? Did he walk so far off the beaten path no one has found him, despite years of trained search teams scouring the area?
And how was he planning to hurt himself? He didn’t have a weapon that anyone knew of, the family didn’t have any prescription drugs, and nothing was found to indicate how and where he might have planned to do something.
So again, like the runaway theory, we can’t rule it out, but I just don’t know.
Theory #3.
Trafficking. Could Macin have been lured by someone online? Was Macin able to completely delete any record of this so no one knows?
This theory isn’t talked about much in connection with Macin, but I don’t think it can be completely ruled out either.
Theory #4.
Foul play. This theory is a controversial one, and those who believe this might have happened are often pointing fingers at the family. Police have stated they have ‘persons of interest’, but they haven’t publicly identified who they are talking about. Many believe they are referring to Darrin Smith, Macin’s dad.
But to date, we have no evidence pointing to this.
Could it be foul play from someone else? Did Macin just plan to skip school that day to clear his head, and someone saw a crime of opportunity? Or, did he plan on running away, and in the process met with foul play?
So many possibilities in this case, and with such a lack of real evidence, it’s hard to lean one way or another.
So what do you think happened to 17-year-old Macin Smith?
Macin is described as a Caucasian male, 6’4” tall and weighing around 180–200 pounds when he was last seen. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and speaks with a mild speech impediment. It’s unknown what he was wearing exactly, but he is believed to have had on his black Nike sneakers with blue soles, a size 14.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Macin Smith, please contact the Saint George Police Department at 435–627–4300.