Conroe family desperate for answers after 32-year-old man disappears returning from Austin road trip
CONROE, Texas - FOX 26 is dedicated to shedding a light on the thousands of missing people in the Greater Houston area.
A Conroe family is desperate for answers after their loved one vanished on his way back from a road trip to Austin.
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32-year-old Timothy Perez drove to Austin, Texas in early March to visit his brother. He called his father around 12:30 a.m. on March 5, while driving back to Conroe, and told him he'd gotten lost and needed help, that would be the last time his family ever spoke with him.
"He said yes I'm lost, and I said, pull over, and I'll come to get you. He tried to call his brother, and his brother missed the call, he missed the call at 2 o'clock in the morning," said Timothy's father Robert Perez.
After his father alerted authorities, law enforcement found Timothy's car out of gas and abandoned on the side of the freeway in North Austin.
The family later learned that Round Rock city police made contact with Timothy on the afternoon of March 5.
A church about nine miles away from where his car was found, someone called 911 saying there was a man walking in and out of the building; that man turned out to be Timothy Perez.
"If he walked nine miles or however many miles from his car to that church, and he didn't have water, and he didn't have food on him, that can make you delirious. We grew up going to church, I think maybe he thought it was a safe place to be," said Timothy's sister Stefanie Perez.
His family says officers made him leave the church that afternoon and no one has seen or heard from him since then.
"There were two police calls that same morning in the area where his car was found, about 40-minutes apart from concerned citizens saying there was a gentleman asking for help saying he was lost and not from the area," his sister explained.
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The Perez family says they've grown frustrated with the lack of help from law enforcement.
"Their response is that he is not a danger to nobody. He said he wasn't going to hurt himself, he hasn't hurt anybody or broken any laws, so they're not going to search," his father said.
Timothy worked as a singer, model, and actor; he even appeared in a Pepsi commercial in 2018, something he and his family were proud of.
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Due to the pandemic, Timothy struggled to find work and was having a hard time. But his family says he had no history of mental illness or drug abuse, and that he would never just disappear from their life.
"I do believe he's still with us. I don't know what to think," his sister said.
The Perez family have hired a private investigator, they say they can't, and they won't rest until they find Timothy and bring him home.
Anyone who may have seen Timothy or heard anything about his disappearance is urged to contact the police or Crimestoppers.
Follow this link for a look at an official record of Long Term Missing Persons throughout the State of Texas.