UPDATE: Two missing teens from the Tarkington area were picked up by police in Chambers County and are being returned to their parents, according to Jen Pearce, the mother of one teen.
Original article:
The families of two Tarkington teen boys – Jonathan Rouse and Austin Edwards – are hoping the public can help locate the boys and encourage them to go home.
Jen Pearce, Jonathan’s mother, says she last saw her son on Saturday morning as he left home to go to his friend Austin’s house. The two were planning to attend a Halloween party in the Rye area but never arrived.
“He has posted a photo of him and Austin riding in a vehicle with two girls and an unknown driver,” Jen said. “We don’t know who the girls are and don’t know who the driver is. We think they might still be with these people.”
The home where the Halloween party was taking place was in a remote location, Pearce said, and the boys never arrived, according to female they met on Snapchat who was hosting the party.
“I know he was in Rye because I found his location on his iPhone app. He apparently has since turned off his iPhone app because I can’t track his phone,” Pearce said.
When the boys failed to come home on Saturday and then there was no sign of them on Sunday, Pearce said she began to worry and filed a missing persons/runaway report with the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office.
She believes that her son might be scared to come home because he is on probation for a vandalism case.
“I don’t necessarily think they are in danger but they are being kids and think they don’t have to listen to their parents,” Pearce said.
Jonathan, 16, is described as 5-feet and 11-inches tall with bleached blonde hair and blue eyes. He weighs approximately 160 pounds and was last seen wearing a dark green hoodie and blue jeans. He has a small scar on his eyebrow and has scars on his forearms from self-inflicted cigarette burns that were the result of him accepting a dare, Pearce said.
Austin, 17, is 5-feet and 9-inches tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a fleece camouflage hoodie, black jeans and a “Punisher” beanie hat.
Anyone with information about the case should call the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at 936-336-4500.