Owner Wants to Sell a Property with Missing Tenant

[Dominic Mauro]

First, apologies if this is answered elsewhere, I did a few searches but really only came up with threads regarding nonpaying tenants.  Also wasn't sure if this was more of a Buy/Sell or Rental post.  So here is the situation in a nutshell:

I have an absentee owner who wants to sell a property he has held as a semi-accidental rental in Texas.  There is a long term tenant in place who is an Army buddy of the owner.  However the tenant had some issues (death in the family I believe) and basically disappeared about a year ago.  The owner and the tenant share mutual friends and apparently he cut off contact with all of them as well and the rumor is that he returned home to Guam.  I tried to skip him but didn't really get any new info.  

The owner has tried to track him down over the last year (calls, emails, LEO wellness checks, friends stopping by, etc) all to no avail.  The lease just came up and due to the situation the owner now wants to sell since he is out of town and doesn't really have any interest in having a rental.  The kicker is the tenant has been paying rent the entire time.  The lawn gets mowed by a service, the electricity is on, etc but no one has been there in the last year per the neighbors.

I suggested he go ahead and send a 30 day notice to vacate to whatever addresses and email he has but honestly, I'm not really sure what the next steps would be in terms of legality for gaining access, what to do with the tenants belongings (I believe there is a decent amount of stuff in the property) or just generally moving forward. Obviously, the owner doesn't want to screw the guy over but he also feels a little trapped and is worried that he will eventually stop paying or something similar.

I had considered just buying it and letting the guy pay rent for a while but because it's a direct deposit (or similar, not 100 percent sure) it goes to the current owner's account which isn't ideal plus the rent is below market.  Also, I need to inspect the property as there is a chance it's not a deal depending on condition vs mortgage payoff.

Any advice on how to proceed?  Thanks!