It's common for trackables to go missing. I've introduced 31 into the game, and only one or two are still active, the other ones in the hands of people who have lost them or lost interest in the game. I've gotten lucky once before, a coin I released spent a couple of years wandering about, before coming back to the cities (https://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=3073252...)
I got lucky again.
A few months ago, I got an email, alerting me to the fact that my old trackable had been placed in a cache in Sand Dunes State Forest. I went out there as soon as I could, but sadly it was gone. However, a few weeks later, someone marked that they had it and placed it in a cache. We couldn't drive out there immediately, due to our busy schedules, etc.
I left the house at around 8:00 AM and drove west to a small dirt road outside New London, MN, getting there at around 10:15. I quickly made the find, the last one being in late July. 9.14 years and 77,000 miles later, Capsir is sitting next to me.