I need a title for a car already payed for. Last owner Missing.

North Carolina
Let's say you're in need for a car so a friend offers to sell their old car to you, because the seller is in a horrible financial situation. So you, the buyer, agrees to and contract's a payment plan, which is signed by the buyer, the seller,and a third "witness" party. In the process of the money transaction the seller gets evicted from his appartment, looses his job, and is no longer reachable by phone.
You've taken all the steps possible to reach him, do so with sucess, and get the car safely home and now the only problem is you have no title, so you can get no insurance, and in the state of NC, causes the car to be illegal to drive.
So now you loose touch with him again, finally receive a phone call from him on his girlfriend's phone, after leaving a message on his father's phone warning that the police would become involved if he did not contact you.
When the steps are taken to get a new title, because you discover his son's mother may have taken the title when moving out (with his name on it), you THEN learn his mother put a "lean" on his car, because she payed for it in his name, and wanted to own it until the money was payed back to her.
The seller contacts his mother, and she agrees to lift the lean. She said she would have a noterized letter to him by that Saturday, Sept. 20,2008.
You've now contacted him on the following tuesday by his girlfriend's phone and she says he's sleeping.
The next Friday, Sept. 26,2008 you call his girlfriend's phone agian and she claims she has not seen him in four days. No explanation of why, which isn't suspicious considering you are strangers.
You have once again traced your steps to reach him and have failed.
Not to mention you have already put about $400 dollars worth of investment into the car.
What is your next move?