A phone rings at 2 a.m.. The caller on the other end tells his friend his brother hasn’t returned home from an Atlanta Falcons football game, and he is beginning to worry about his safety.

The friend tells the caller that the brother may just be staying out late and to call the police if he still hasn’t returned in the morning.

The Atlanta Police Department is notified the next morning.

A lookout is issued and the missing man’s information is entered into the national system.

The family and friends of the family retrace what may have been the missing man’s steps — to no avail.

A month passes.

The Los Angles Police Department notifies Atlanta the missing man’s truck was located abandoned on the side of the road.

Now police suspect foul play.

The family gets a break when someone uses the man’s social security number.

L.A. police review video tapes at an unemployment office and see the missing man applying for unemployment.

The family is notified and reunited with their lost brother.

But was he really missing?

Gone without a trace

Capt. Brian Childress, a spokesman with the Valdosta Police Department, described this true story as being a perfect example of something police deal with on what can sometimes be a day-to-day basis.