I have been to Germantown Metro Park once several years ago. I am not familar with the lake. Anyone going to Germantown Metro Park should go in a group with someone familar with wooded areas, a map of the park, a good compass and bottled water. My friend (a city girl) and I got lost near the visitor’s center. We got there twenty minutes before the center opened. Decided to take a short walk on a marked trail that looped back to the center. The twenty minute walk turned into a two hour walk. Fortunately, I have some experience in the woods and found the vistor’s center again. My friend would not have made it out by herself. After we returned to our car, a man was lead out of the woods by two people with fishing gear. From the conversion I heard, he had gotten lost and they had to bring him out.
I will try to contact some of the real estate companies myself.
My feeling, ever since I found out they left in the afernoon, is that the shopping trip had been cancelled and they had gone to some place locally. If they did not leave until 4:00, they may have just gone out to eat.