Young man who disappeared in Miami-Dade County found safe in another state
A man who had been missing since July 4 after his car was found at a Miami Dade College campus was located safe in another state, according to authorities.
“He was located in good physical and mental health,” Detective Chris Thomas of the Miami-Dade police said Thursday in a brief news release.
Alejandro Suarez told his parents that he planned to visit the university’s Kendall campus at 11011 SW 104th St. to do schoolwork, his mother Odalys Heredia told the Miami Herald on Wednesday. Despite it being a holiday, Heredia said the 20-year-old man who has autism insisted he needed to go and that he wanted to make the 15-minute drive by himself from their home in the Westchester neighborhood.
“He is an extremely loving boy,” she said in Spanish. “He is like an extension of my arm.”
Heredia, who taught Suarez how to drive to and from campus, said she tried calling him several times Monday morning, but to no avail. As minutes and hours went by without hearing from him, she said she became increasingly worried.
“My heart was shaking,” she said.
Family members went to the college campus, spoke with a security guard and ultimately found Suarez’s vehicle parked at a church across the street, Heredia said. Fearing the worst and with police by their side, she added they opened the car with a spare key but did not find him inside.
She noted Suarez has no known friends and that he enjoys playing online video games.
“He never goes out alone,” Heredia said.
