Search continues for U.S. Navy veteran, one week following his disappearance

Thursday marks exactly one week since a U.S. Navy veteran from Peoria went missing.

Joseph Casey, 34, was last seen at Lake Pleasant, where his Jeep broke down. Since then, MCSO detectives and volunteer searchers have been actively looking for him, but so far, no one has discovered any leads on where Casey might be.

"We canvassed a very large area about 10 square miles. There was nothing that would point us in the right direction, unfortunately," said Will Rollins, a volunteer searcher. "The area is very unforgiving. With his background and survivals skills, its not unreasonable he could make it out there near a large body of water."

Last Thursday, Casey and a friend drove out to the northern part of Lake Pleasant in his Jeep, where it broke down. The woman he was with tells FOX 10 Casey hitched a ride in a dark colored vehicle to look for help, and never came back.

Helena Ramirez filed a missing persons report the next day.

"It had been 24 hours," said Ramirez. "His roommates hadn't spoken to him, the Jeep hadn't shown back up at his house. He put a lot of work into his jeep, I figured something happened to him, so I filed a missing persons report. I didn't want anything bad to happen to him. This guy was great. He was a blessing."

Casey's relatives suspect foul play may be involved in his disappearance. No one answered the door when FOX 10 stopped by his home in Peoria, but it was noted that several surveillance cameras are installed on the house, and the side gate was left open.

Meanwhile, MCSO has not ruled out the possibility that Casey may have left voluntarily, and are not treating this case as a crime.

"We need to have evidence, that's really what this goes down to," said MCSO spokesperson Sgt. Bryant Vanegas.