MUNFORDVILLE — Tony Ray Choate was just midway through his 20s when he was last seen in Bonnieville, riding a pink four-wheeler Sept. 14, 1993.

Kentucky State Police originally considered the case involving Choate a missing person investigation because Choate was known to leave town for stretches of time, traveling to Florida and California until his money ran out.

But his grandparents who raised him, who are now both deceased, realized that something was different this time. So three days later, they reported him missing. Choate, 25, never returned.

Years after his disappearance, police gathered information that led them to believe Choate had been the victim of a homicide, KSP Detective Scott Skaggs said. Choate is believed to have been in the process of committing a crime at the time of his disappearance.

His body has never been found.

Police have dug up concrete, searched neighboring caves and conducted numerous ground searches looking for Choate’s remains.

A cousin by marriage, Geneva Choate of Upton, helped care for Tony Choate when he was a child.

She remembers him as a boy who never gave her any trouble, a boy who grew up to be a “pretty good” man when he stayed straight, she said.

“I knowed him ever since he was a baby,” she said. “He was the cutest little thing that ever was when he was little.”

“He’d get back there and fish and ride horses,” she said.

When he grew up, he worked in the tobacco fields and worked on cars.

Tony’s grandparents held out hope until the day they died that their grandson would be found, Geneva Choate said.

“Nobody never did find out,” she said.

If you have information about this or any other crime, call South Central Kentucky Crime Stoppers at 781-CLUE (781-2583) or toll free at 866-842-CLUE. You can also call Kentucky State Police at 782-2010.