Written by Duffie Dixon of 11 Alive
Friends of a missing local musician are asking for the public’s help in locating him. 43-year-old Steven Marchi was last seen the night of August 12, 2011. His roomate Jeffrey Powell said Marchi left the apartment in in his green Dodge pickup that has a camper top and an Illinois license plate.
Powell assumed he’d see Marchi in a few hours, but he and others have not seen or heard from Marchi since. “I didn’t think too much of it at first. I mean he’s a grown man and I thought he may have just been staying with a friend, but then I realized he left without his phone or his guitar,” said Powell.
Other friends confirm Marchi is an avid musician and goes everywhere with his guitar and sheet music.
Kelley Hagen said that’s what has her convinced something bad has happened to Marchi. “Anyone who knows him knows he is not without his guitar for more than a few hours. He’s also not someone who would leave a roomate without paying the rent or explaining if he was headed out of town,” said Hagen.
In fact, Powell said Marchi is always prompt with his weekly rent. Powell is also convinced Marchi planned to be around for the coming week based on what he found in the refrigerator. Marchi, a strict vegan, had just purchased and cut up various produce and put it in containers for a week’s worth of meals. “There’s no way he would buy all of that, take all that time preparing it if he was headed out of town,” said Powell.
Marchi has performed at a number of venues around Atlanta including Smith’s Old Bar, Eddie’s Attic and the Red Light Cafe. He was saving up money to pay for the release of a CD.
Between gigs Marchi worked as a masseur, so friends worry he may have gone to a client’s house and something bad happened to him. “I just know he would have contacted one of us, any of us, by now,” said Hagen.
Police have assigned a case number in the search for Steven Marchi. Friends say the only thling he had with him was his wallet and his truck.