One of Their Own: Police Searching for Missing Officer Michael Hopton

Sept. 16, 2009— -- Police in Rhode Island are searching for one of their own after Glocester Police Officer Michael Hopton disappeared in a rural state forest he knew well.

Hopton, 47, left home Saturday and was reported missing Sunday morning after he failed to show up for his midnight shift. Searchers later found his car parked at Pulaski State Park where police and Hopton's family said he often went to exercise.

"We sit here and ponder," his father Francis Hopton told ABCNews.com. "And we just do not know."

Hopton, who was married with one daughter in high school and a stepson in the Marines, had been with the Glocester Police Department for three years. Francis Hopton said his son had retired as a captain from the nearby Smithfield Police Department after 20 years there. After a brief stint at a law career, Michael Hopton decided to get back into police work, his father said.

Rhode Island State Police Lt. Colonel Steven O'Donnell told ABCNews.com that a witness said he saw Hopton walking around in the park Saturday morning, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, not workout clothes.

O'Donnell said Hopton is believed to have been carrying his drivers license and his police-issued gun.

His car key was left in the vehicle, O'Donnell said, and his wallet and cell phone were left at home.

"We always entertain the fact that he could have faked this," O'Donnell said, referring to Hopton's disappearance. "We don't think that's the case."

Francis Hopton said his son was an avid cyclist who would often go for a ride in the park after his shift ended, but O'Donnell said his bicycle and his running gear were left at home.

Police are also monitoring Hopton's finances, but there has been no activity on his accounts.

"Right now, it's a missing persons," he said. "In these types of matters, anything is on the table."