Search launched for West Columbia man reported missing Christmas day

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Lexington county authorities are asking for the public’s help in finding a 22-year-old West Columbia man who was reported missing by his family on Christmas Day.

Michael Jody George was last seen with an acquaintance leaving Shooters Bar on the Charleston Highway around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said. Authorities believe George was high intoxicated when he left the Cayce bar. The two men went to the friend’s house near Swansea and George left a while later, the 33-year-old man told investigators.

George’s family became alarmed when he didn’t show up for Christmas as expected. John Wannamaker told police that he last spoke to his brother Friday evening. The authorities were called after Gary George found his son’s car on Beckman Road, a sparsely populated area several miles west of his son's home on the Edmond Highway.

His family told authorities it’s out of character for George to be out of touch for so long, especially at Christmas.

A search Sunday night and Monday by air and on the ground near where the car was found yielded no clues, Sheriff James Metts said.

George is 6-foot and weighs 135 pounds, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. A copy of his drivers license picture was released.

Anyone with information concerning Michael George or Michael George’s whereabouts is asked to call the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department at (803) 785-8230 or CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

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