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(NewsNation) — A church choir director has been missing for three years and police have named his boyfriend a person of interest as new details are revealed in the case.
Police told NewsNation exclusively they had polygraphed Creg Lyle’s boyfriend, Michael Butler Jr., during the investigation and that he had failed the test. But they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him and are now seeking the public’s help in solving the case.
Creg Lyles’ disappearance
Creg Lyle was a church choir director in Michigan before he disappeared. For his family and friends, the kitchen table is a safe place to reminisce.
While he worked a day job as an IT specialist, Creg Lyles’ faith was his true passion whether he was acting as the choir director at his church in Pontiac, Michigan, or stepping into the spotlight on stage.
His parents, Greg and Mary Lyles, can’t believe how much time has passed with no news of their son.
Creg Lyles’ family is a sprawling bunch of loving relatives who bond through good-natured teasing and hold parties for every occasion. Creg Lyles was a critical element of that, starting a group chat with his cousins and hosting parties.
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But when he met Butler, everything changed, his family said.
They all supported Creg Lyles when he came out and when they met Butler, the first boyfriend he brought home to meet his loved ones. But it was tricky, they said, because something seemed off about Butler.
“It was just something about him that I didn’t care for,” Greg Lyles said.
It may have been father’s intuition, as the family would only learn after Creg Lyles disappeared that Butler had recently been paroled from prison after serving part of a 22-year sentence.
“Creg hid from me because he didn’t want me to know that he was gay. I take responsibility for that growing up and I feel responsible because when I told him to be himself, he went to be himself and then he went missing,” Greg Lyles said. “That hurts me. Instead of letting him be himself, I waited until he got grown to tell him, hey, be yourself.”
The first sign of Creg Lyles’ disappearance came when the usually active man stopped using social media.
“Someone reached out to my oldest son and that’s how we know Creg hadn’t been on social media,” Mary Lyles said. “He was a social media young butterfly and he called his dad every day.”
The Lyles sent their son’s college friend over to the Waterford apartment the 33-year-old shared with his boyfriend.
Searching for Creg Lyles
The friend quickly called the police after finding signs of a struggle. Waterford Police Lieutenant Chet Bartle picked up the case the next morning.
“We get to the apartment, Creg is not there. But Creg’s live-in boyfriend, Mike Butler, is there,” Bartle said. “He was startled. It was very clear that he was surprised by us being there. We were trying to ask him questions about their relationship.”
Bartle determined the damage to the apartment wasn’t recent, but came from an argument that happened at least a month before Creg Lyle disappeared.
One item would become a key piece of evidence: Creg Lyles’ truck, which Butler was seen driving around the streets of Pontiac for days after his boyfriend was last seen.
Bartle said his team examined many kinds of evidence, including cell phones, watches, car computers, satellite imagery and video surveillance.
“Unfortunately, specific to the car, the data that is contained within the car only goes back to about two or three days before we met with Mike,” Bartle said.
A missing boyfriend and unanswered questions
The family said earlier this year, detectives told them Creg Lyles would never be found.
“So I would never have that closure to put my son to rest properly like he’s supposed to,” Mary Lyles said.
The family has turned to their faith, just as Creg Lyles did in his life even with no concrete answers of what happened to him.
“I don’t care if anybody goes to prison, I just want to know where my kid is,” Greg Lyles said. “So I can put him to rest.”
Police vow the case isn’t over.
“Should this man feel comfortable at this point? Absolutely not,” Bartle said. “Somebody out there knows. He’s told somebody, he’s left a crime somewhere. At some point, we’ll get the answers that we need.”
Detectives believe Michael Butler is living somewhere in Texas, but have been unable to locate him. NewsNation was unable to locate Butler as well.
Anyone with information on Michael Butler or Creg Lyles’ disappearance should call the Waterford Township Police at 248-618-6041. To submit anonymous tips, call 248-674-COPS or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.