UPDATE:
According to his family, 22-year-old Garrett Markwell has been found safe.
ORIGINAL:
Last Thursday, 22-year-old Garrett Markwell was dog-sitting at his dad's home in Morehead. Later that afternoon, his family got concerned that they hadn't heard from him.
His mother, Melissa Davis, shares, "He goes over there between 7:00 and 3:00 to sit with her while the uncles at work and on Thursday of last week, probably around 4:00, they found a letter. We're thinking he went missing about 4:00 because we're not really sure because the only thing that was there was the letter."
Markwell’s mom explains that he lives with Asperger’s, which is a form of autism. She says the family found his cell phone and a letter explaining that he was going to live with a friend in Nicholasville but didn't leave a name or address. His mom says he normally likes to take walks on his own, but after almost a week, she's concerned that no one has heard from him.
Davis says, "We just want to know where he's at. I wonder if maybe he thought that he would get in trouble with his dad, so he didn't take the phone, so we couldn't contact him. I'm hoping — my prayer is — that he's with someone that doesn't realize that Garrett doesn't have his phone and that he's not reaching out to us. I hope that this has been just a misunderstanding, but the longer the time goes, it's scary."
The family has been working with Kentucky State Police. A trooper shared that they’d reached out to Markwell's friends to see if they could find him. They're continuing their search and investigation. His mom wants people to understand that with his form of autism, although Markwell is 22, mentally, he's more like a teenager.
Davis says, "I don't know if he knows to go to an officer, I don't know if he knows to go to a place of help and say, 'I’ve been taken, or I’m away from my family and I don't know how to get back home.' I don't know if he has those skills, or if he would reach out and do that. And that's what is so scary."
Davis wants people to know her son's face. She asks that if anyone sees him, that they contact KSP, let him know that his family is looking for him and that he's loved.
"We're not trying to chase him or hurt him, we're trying to protect him and that's all we're trying to do right now, you know and that's the biggest thing. He needs us... You need family, you need people that are watching over you if something happens, or someone tries to hurt you, they can be there. And I don't think he understands that that's our intent. Our heart is just to keep him safe,” says Davis.
