by Jeroslyn JoVonn
July 8, 2025
A neighborhood household in Calera, Alabama is getting help of their seek for a beloved patriarch who vanished shortly after arriving from Kenya.
A Kenyan household in Calera, Alabama, is receiving sturdy help from their local people as they seek for their household patriarch, who went lacking simply days earlier than his grandson’s commencement, a celebration he had traveled to attend.
Reuben Waithaka, 72, was final seen at a fuel station he hitchhiked to someday after arriving in Calera to attend his grandson’s highschool commencement, CNN studies. Nonetheless, surveillance footage exhibits Waithaka waving at a retailer attendant earlier than he went contained in the restroom and out a again door, the place he was by no means seen once more.
“He simply acquired right here. After which he was gone,” Waithaka’s grandson, Byron Barua, 17, mentioned.
It’s been seven weeks because the Kenyan vacationer went lacking. Regardless of intensive efforts, together with lacking particular person flyers, helicopters, drones, off-road autos, monitoring canines, and infrared heat-seeking cameras, police have but to search out any hint of him.
“Generally I remorse why I requested my dad and mom to return for my son’s commencement. I discover myself questioning, ‘What would I’ve accomplished in another way? ’” Waithaka’s son, Willington Barua, mentioned. “Perhaps if I hadn’t invited them, my dad would nonetheless be with us.”
The household suspects Waithaka might have had undiagnosed dementia or one other situation triggered by the stress of being away from residence and the 18-hour journey from Kenya to Alabama. In the course of the second leg of his journey, from Frankfurt to Atlanta, he grew to become incoherent and agitated, requiring a flight attendant to help his spouse in preserving him seated.
Upon arriving in Alabama, Waithaka appeared confused and fell whereas making an attempt to make use of an airport escalator the mistaken approach, injuring his knee. His limp from that fall is seen on fuel station safety footage. Afterward, Barua took his father to the ER, the place a head CT scan and bloodwork got here again regular.
After a nap and breakfast, Waithaka allegedly stepped outdoors, and his household hadn’t seen him since. He accepted two rides from motorists, with the final dropping him off on the fuel station the place he was final seen. A close-by resident later reported seeing somebody matching Waithaka’s description enter a looking membership close to the fuel station. The lady informed police he crawled underneath a gate and vanished into the woods.
Police have performed a number of searches of the encircling wooded areas and interviewed native residents a number of occasions. Investigators imagine Waithaka might have caught one other trip on the truck cease positioned behind the fuel station, doubtlessly leaving the world fully.
Waithaka turned 73 on June 3. Byron graduated simply days after his grandfather went lacking, with out him there to have a good time.
“It was tragic, however I attempted to not let it get to me or carry me down all the best way,” Byron mentioned of his lacking grandfather. “I pray for him to remain protected.”
Waithaka’s son, who owns a trucking firm, says he posts flyers at each relaxation cease and truck cease he visits. Each time he drives previous a wooded space, he slows down, scanning the timber in hopes of recognizing his father.
Each telephone name brings a rush of hysteria and hope as he braces for the potential for solutions. Not understanding something about his father’s whereabouts is the toughest half, he mentioned.
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