Key facts
- Name: Kyle Fleischmann
- Age at disappearance: 24
- Last seen: November 9, 2007, ~2:20 a.m.
- Location: Buckhead Saloon / uptown Charlotte, North Carolina
- Height / build: 6’0″, 180 lbs, brown hair, green eyes; last seen in a black T-shirt, jeans, and black dress shoes
- Status: Still missing — no bank activity, no phone activity, no confirmed sightings since that night
- Investigating agency: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, (704) 366-3949; Crime Stoppers, (704) 334-1600
The night out
It was supposed to be a family night. On Thursday, November 8, 2007, Kyle Fleischmann — 24, an Elon University graduate working as an executive at Fidelity Investments — went with his mother Barbara, his sister Noelle, and his best friend Dan to see Dane Cook’s stand-up show at the Bobcats arena in Charlotte. Afterward, they walked to the Buckhead Saloon uptown. Kyle’s family and friends eventually headed home. Kyle stayed.
The saloon’s security cameras caught him leaving alone around 2:20 a.m. He left his coat behind. He didn’t have his credit card. The night was chilly.
What happened over the next ninety minutes is documented in fragments. Around 2:25, Kyle walked into Fuel Pizza uptown and ordered two slices. An employee remembered him coming in alone; the restaurant got crowded, and the employee never saw him leave. A cab driver thought he later saw a man matching Kyle’s description walking on North Davidson Street at 3:25 a.m., but couldn’t say for sure it was him. Surveillance and phone records show Kyle got into a cab at Tryon Street and that his movements stayed in the uptown and First Ward areas.
Around 3:30 a.m., he called his best friend and roommate — twice. Neither answered. He left no messages. His cell phone activity ended around 4:00 a.m. The phone has been off ever since.
He never went back for his car, parked at a friend’s home. He never went home to the condo he shared with roommates. There has been no activity on his bank accounts since that night. He was carrying his black leather wallet, his car keys, and about six dollars in cash.
The next morning, when he didn’t show up for work, his family knew. A 24-year-old doesn’t miss work at Fidelity without calling.
The city that changed around the question
Charlotte has rebuilt itself several times since 2007. The skyline Kyle walked under is taller now; whole blocks are unrecognizable; the Buckhead Saloon is a memory. But the question hasn’t moved: how does a six-foot, 180-pound young man vanish from a busy downtown between 2:20 and 4:00 in the morning, on camera, on the phone, and then — nothing?
His family turned the tragedy into infrastructure for others. The Kyle Fleischmann Foundation, organized by friends and family, was created to raise awareness of missing adults and to tell people where to go for help in the critical first days of a disappearance. Elon University held a remembrance on the first anniversary.
In 2009, two years in, Barbara and Dick Fleischmann printed an obituary for their son in the Charlotte Observer — an act of grief, not of answers. In 2010, they left Charlotte; the city had become, in one account, haunted by painful reminders of the unknown.
In a 2023 interview marking sixteen years, Dick Fleischmann said something that reframes the whole night: “The thing is, if whatever happened to Kyle in 2007 would happen today in the world of Uber, I think my son would be okay. He would have had his phone and called for a car with the press of a button. He wouldn’t have needed to wander around a bad neighborhood and get lost.”
Kyle would have turned 43 in September 2026. No confirmed sightings. No bank activity. No recovered phone. No body. No arrests. No answers.
Theories: what might have happened
Foul play in the First Ward. The phone records place Kyle in the uptown and First Ward areas in the hours after he left the bar — and the First Ward in 2007 had rough edges, construction sites, and dark streets. A young man alone at 3:30 a.m., without his coat, with six dollars, could have been robbed, or worse. Authorities have said they heavily suspect foul play. What undercuts certainty: no witness, no crime scene, no physical evidence has ever been found.
An accident — a fall, the river, a construction site. Uptown Charlotte in 2007 was a construction zone in places. An intoxicated young man could have fallen somewhere unseen — into a site, a culvert, the creek. Search dogs and searches covered ground, but a city hides things. Against it: the density of the area and the sheer number of eyes that night make an unwitnessed fatal accident difficult, though not impossible.
He left voluntarily. Nothing supports it. He left his coat, his debit card, and his car; he called his roommate and sister at 3:30 a.m. — the calls of a man trying to get home, not a man leaving. No bank activity in nineteen years. His family has never believed it.
The two 3:30 a.m. calls are the detail that won’t let go: Kyle, alone in the Charlotte night, reaching for the two people who would have come to get him. They didn’t pick up. He didn’t leave a message. And then the phone went dark.
Have information?
Contact the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department at (704) 366-3949 or Crime Stoppers at (704) 334-1600. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- September 1983 — Kyle Fleischmann is born.
- 2006 — Graduates from Elon University; works at Fidelity Investments in Charlotte.
- November 8, 2007, evening — Dane Cook show at the Bobcats arena with his mother, sister, and best friend; then the Buckhead Saloon.
- November 9, 2007, ~2:20 a.m. — Security cameras show Kyle leaving the saloon alone; coat and debit card left behind.
- November 9, 2007, ~2:25 a.m. — Orders pizza at Fuel Pizza uptown, alone; never seen leaving.
- November 9, 2007, ~3:30 a.m. — Calls his roommate and sister twice; no messages left.
- November 9, 2007, ~4:00 a.m. — Last cell phone activity; phone goes off and stays off.
- November 9, 2007, morning — Reported missing after failing to show for work.
- 2008 — Elon University holds a remembrance; the Kyle Fleischmann Foundation is active.
- 2009 — Family prints an obituary in the Charlotte Observer.
- 2010 — His parents leave Charlotte.
- 2023 — Dick Fleischmann’s 16th-anniversary interview.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Kyle Fleischmann still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Kyle Fleischmann has been missing for nearly 19 years. There have been no confirmed sightings, no bank activity, and no phone activity since November 9, 2007.
Was Kyle Fleischmann ever found?
No. Despite surveillance footage, phone-record analysis, searches, and years of tips, no trace of Kyle has ever been found.
How old would Kyle Fleischmann be today?
Kyle was 24 when he disappeared in November 2007 — he would have turned 43 in September 2026.
Where was Kyle Fleischmann last seen?
Security cameras captured him leaving the Buckhead Saloon in uptown Charlotte alone around 2:20 a.m. on November 9, 2007. He was then seen at Fuel Pizza around 2:25 a.m. His last phone activity was around 4:00 a.m. in the uptown/First Ward area.
What was the Kyle Fleischmann Foundation?
A foundation organized by Kyle’s friends and family to raise awareness of missing adults and educate people on what to do in the critical first days of a disappearance.
How can I help?
Share this case file. If you have any information, contact the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department at (704) 366-3949 or Crime Stoppers at (704) 334-1600.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, (704) 366-3949; Crime Stoppers, (704) 334-1600; CUE Center for Missing Persons.
- News: WBTV; Charlotte Magazine; Elon University, “Kyle Fleischmann ’06 Remembrance Nov. 8.”
- Reference: The Charley Project, “Kyle Fleischmann”; NCMEC.
- Media: Going West: True Crime podcast, “Kyle Fleischmann” (ep. 360); Cola City Crime podcast.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.