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Even though he was also having visions of demon, he would tell me and paranoia one time his internet went out and he came to me and my husband

just visibly panicked. He thought they were coming after him whoever they were we don't know but he's like they found me they're coming after me they know like this movement I'm starting I have to go into hiding.

I don't know how important the case is to all these people we believe they're on it but are they actually doing anything we just have no idea.

So we feel like we're the only ones doing anything but we hope that's not the case. Our goal is to find my nephew that's all we want to find him.

On September 7th 2020, 20 year old Isaac Damien left his family's home in Grand Rapids, Michigan on a flight headed for Hawaii. His family would later share that Isaac had not been his usual self for quite some time.

But especially since the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down the nation in March of 2020, six months prior. Quite literally, Isaac had the entire world in his hands and his whole life in front of him.

While his parents were out of town for Labor Day weekend, Isaac decided to set sail on uncharted territory. Isaac was a young man raised in a home full of love and support.

Why Isaac left is complicated and there are many questions that we don't have the answers to. To complicate things further, another young man also made the trip to Hawaii and vanished along with Isaac.

This story spans from New York all the way to Hawaii and then around the Pacific Ocean to two tiny remote French islands we had never heard of before.

Just how far reaching is this case and what mysteries have we unraveled? Well, that's what we're going to share with you today.

I'm Marissa and from Wondery, this is episode 385 of The Vanished, Isaac Damien's story.

Hi, I'm Sarah Haggi, co-host of Wondery's podcast, Scample Insers. In our recent two-part series, Three Weddings in a Funeral, we dive into the story of a German con man who built an entire life on fake names, lies and schemes, and the unlikely true-kind twist that brought this decades-long charade crashing down.

Listen to Scample Insers on Amazon Music or ever you get your podcasts.

A quick note before we begin. We mentioned in the introduction that Isaac vanished along with another young man.

We will explain later on why we're not including his name in the title of this episode. But we do want to acknowledge that there are two missing people in this case and that they're equally as important.

That being said, it's also important to us to always respect the wishes of our families and the other missing persons family did not want to share their story.

We hold out a candle of hope and light for them as well, and hope answers for their missing loved one come as well as Isaac.

In June of 2021, we received a case submission form regarding a young man named Isaac Damien. His family told us that he had been missing since October of the previous year, but the story quickly unraveled, and we learned that the last time Isaac's family had seen him, had been before Labor Day when they left on a trip, and he chose to stay home.

At 20 years old, in six months into living pandemic life, Isaac likely wanted some peace and quiet.

He has two younger siblings, and freedom was probably hard to find in the era of quarantines and social distancing, with many public establishments remaining closed at the time of his disappearance.

We conducted our first interviews in the summer of 2021, first with Isaac's Aunt Naomi, and later with his mother Abigail.

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