Family 22 years old overseas student Ken DeLand. Jr., who has has gone missing in France since December 3, is desperate for information about their son.
DeLand, in her final year at St. John Fisher in Rochester, New York, is part of a study abroad program run by the University of Grenoble Alpes as part of the American Institutes of Foreign Studies group.
His mother, Carol Laws, said an administrator for the study abroad program contacted her at the end of November. “She said she had to file a missing person report because they hadn’t seen him. us in 24 hours,” Laws said in a posted video. on the website “Finding Ken DeLand” released last weekend. “I’m not there. You’re here… a thousand miles away. This is impossible. How did he go missing? What happened?”
His father says Ken contacted them when he returned home to New York every day or every other day until November 27 when he boarded a train to Valence, south of where he lives with a family. host family. “Kenny was a friendly, outgoing college student, a young man,” his father, Kenneth DeLand tell ABC Good Morning America in an interview that aired on Monday. “He loves to travel. So this trip is something that he really looks forward to and enjoys.”
Find Ken DeLand .’s website
The DeLand family has set up a website to solicit information from anyone who may have seen him. He is expected to return to New York for Christmas after his classes end on December 17. His family also said his student visa will expire on December 17. January 20, 2023. , France,” the family says on his website. “Kenny’s phone is said to have been pinged on Wednesday, 11/30/22. However, contact has yet to take place from his phone or any social media as of Sunday, November 27, 2022.”
The family was able to contact his bank to track any purchases, the last of which was $8.40 on the morning of December 3 at a sporting goods store in Montelimar. , where security cameras recorded him entering. However, his phone had not been activated since November 27, the family said French police had informed them. Montelimar is the second largest city in the Valence region north of Provence in southern France. DeLand’s family says that although his passport will ping if he uses it due to his disappearance, he can easily travel overland in Europe. Europe without a passport.
Find Ken DeLand .’s website
Former FBI agent Brad Garrett told the ABC news agency that French authorities need to be careful in finding contacts. “It was extremely important to understand who he was talking to, maybe his age in France or maybe he was talking to people in the US on the phone,” says Garrett.
The family, clearly frustrated, posted a plea for information. “We understand Kenny is an adult and that the University, as well as local, national and international police, are tied up,” they wrote on the search website. “Neither the US nor the French authorities are able to share his whereabouts. What we do know is that a missing person report was filed.”
