Family begging for answers about missing Austin man Jason John
AUSTIN, Texas - A family is begging for answers on their missing loved one.
It has been eight days since 30-year-old Jason John was last seen on Feb. 5 after a night out with friends on Rainey Street.
"Our main thing is we want to find my brother, in good health would be great, but, if he has passed, we want to find him. We want to have a proper funeral," said Rinju John, brother of Jason.
The John family is beyond frustrated as they move into day eight wondering where 30-year-old Jason John is.
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"It is the worst nightmare for a family," said Rinju.
The family of Jason has flown in from New York to get answers. Rinju flew in from his home in Dubai to Austin to be with his family in this difficult time.
"It's tough, but it's the most important thing for a family to be together in a tough situation like this," said Rinju.
His family says they started to notice something was off when Jason did not answer the family’s weekly call on Sunday.
"I spoke to my mom on Sunday, and then she's like, ‘oh, Jason didn't pick up his phone,’ which happens, and we all get busy and the time difference," said Rinju.
Alarm bells did not really go off until Jason's family was told he had not been back home at all on Sunday leaving his dog, Ruffles, alone.
"The key thing is, okay, maybe he went out, he stayed at a friend's place, his phone died, that's all possible, but as soon as we knew that [Ruffles] was at home for hours on end and Jason wasn't back then, we knew something was wrong," he said.
Jason was last seen out on Rainey Street with his friends Saturday, Feb. 4. FOX 7 Austin was told he left around 2 a.m. Feb. 5, and is believed to have walked home on the Lady Bird Lake trail
"We have footage of him until the end of Rainey Street. At that point, once he takes that turn, we don't know what direction he went in," said Rinju.
Rinju says the walk home should have taken 18 minutes. However, there is only 10 minutes of footage of his brother. The remaining eight minutes of his walk home was left undocumented due to the lack of no cameras in that area.
"Did he go in the water? Did he go on the trail? Do you go back on the road? Was he kidnaped? There's no concrete evidence," he said.
Rinju says it took six days for the ball to get rolling on his brother’s case. Now, local leaders like Mayor Kirk Watson have joined in on the plea for answers.
"It's great. We just wish it came sooner," said Rinju.
Austin police’s missing person unit is investigating. Teams have been searching the area, including the lake, for days now.
Whatever the outcome, Rinju hopes change comes out of this.
"We want that trail to be lit up. It's hard to believe in 2023 that the entire trail has no cameras on it. There's no very little lighting. It's incredibly dark over there that has to be fixed and has to be changed," he said.
Austin police sent FOX 7 Austin this statement on the case:
"We are still investigating this case. We will not comment further to protect this case’s integrity until more information is available."