I've caught up on the thread now. No one has mentioned a data dump or phone data found on the night he went missing. I know he had a flip phone, but it seems they could locate other phones in the area. There can't be that many in that area. I am not sure if flip phones have the same GPS data that other "smart phones" have these days. Do we know locations of phone towers? This is pretty rural so it should be pretty easy to see other phones in the area that night. I am very concerned about his comment of a cough. I've been around farmers all my life. They usually don't let a little cough keep them from working. Farmers work hard 6-7 days a week....sick or not.
This case sort of reminds me of Robert Hoagland.
PD: 50-year-old Newtown man missing http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/fairfield_cty/pd-50-year-old-newtown-man-missing#.Ufnkn5I3uGE
www.websleuths.com
His wife was on a trip, he mowed the lawn, was supposed to pick her up at the airport and never showed up. Everything left at home. He was located 2 hours away 9 years later. He was living "off the grid" so to speak. He had assumed a new name, being paid cash, lived in a room in someone's house. The only way they found it was him was he had a heart attack and died and they found papers indicating he was Robert Hoagland. I don't feel that is what happened here, but one never knows.