Michael had taken a keen interest in anthropology and worked on a documentary on civilizations that have no contact with the modern world, explained Smithsonian Magazine in 2014. After finishing the film, Michael decided he wanted to continue studying the Asmat tribe of New Guinea.

In 1961, Michael and anthropologist Rene Wassing took off on a dugout canoe with two local guides along the New Guinea coast, reported The Rake. The boat began taking on water and overturned. The guides swam to get help, but were taking too long. Michael turned to Wassing and said, "I think I can make it," and began swimming towards the shore. That was the last time anyone saw him alive.

His disappearance shocked people back in the US. Here was the privileged son of the current New York governor and a member of a prominent, wealthy family, vanishing in the middle of nowhere. Speculation grew. Did sharks eat him? Did he drown? Or, did he manage to make it ashore, only to be eaten by cannibals that still roamed the islands? Did he decide to eschew the Rockefeller name and live like a native?

The official and accepted cause of death for Michael is drowning, but many amateur adventurers still believe otherwise. In 2014, Carl Hoffman published a book titled Savage Harvest, based on detailed testimonies from Asmat tribesmen and positing that an American tourist believed to be Michael was killed in revenge for a Dutch raid four years before.

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