COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — More than two months after he disappeared the family of 40-year-old Donald Farris Jr. reached out to 5 On Your Side making an emotional plea for help finding him.
Aaron and Amanda Wells dropped off Donald Farris Jr. at a Collinsville senior center so he could visit his grandfather on July 3.
“That’s the last we’ve seen or heard from Donnie,” Farris' sister Amanda said.
“I started to know there was something wrong once he wasn’t answering his phone,” Aaron Wells, who is the brother-in-law of Farris, said.
While Farris has had his fair share of run-ins with the law in the past Wells said it’s unusual for more than a few days to pass without hearing from her brother.
“He’s my only living relative, so anytime he’s had any problems he’s always contacted us immediately,” Amanda said. “We were his next of kin.”
After filing a missing persons report the Wells say a woman told them she and Farris walked to a nearby MotoMart before making their way to a house along North Morrison and eventually to a second home on North Church Street.
“She went inside the house she says and whenever she came back out, he was gone,” Aaron said. “That’s the last we have heard.”
“There’s no activity on his bank account,” Amanda said. “All of his belongings are still at home, and his cell phone is not active.”
The Wells family has spent the past two months following up on leads on both sides of the river, but continue to come up empty.
“I’ve even found myself driving down the road by myself looking in fields at this point because you just never know if he’s going to turn up,” Amanda said.
“My biggest concern is that he’s OK,” Aaron said. “We just want him back or at least to know that he’s okay … Somebody knows something … Speak up!”
“At this point we don’t have any more answers,” Amanda said. “It’s a lost cause at this point if nobody puts a helping hand in...we just want him home!”
5 On Your Side reporter Holden Kurwicki spoke with the lead investigator at the Madison County Sheriff’s department who said his team is looking into a number of leads regarding Farris' disappearance.
Anyone with any information on Farris' whereabouts is being asked to contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Department at 618-692-6087.