The family of a missing South Chicago man with autism is hoping Chicagoans will look out for the 43-year-old, who may be somewhere downtown or near the museum campus.
Jonathan “Jon” Baez was last seen on Easter. He was the caretaker for his sick father, retired Chicago police officer Dave Baez. The family said the elder Baez was fighting Parkinson's disease and died of natural causes last week.
But when family went to the South Side home Friday, Jon couldn’t be located. The family is worried he may have left amid the grief of losing his father.
“Hopefully somebody catches a glimpse of him and says I saw him,” Baez’s aunt Paty Galindo said, who was taping missing person posters to light poles in the neighborhood near the intersection of 87th Street and Commercial Avenue.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
“Did he see something that scared him so bad that he left? He doesn’t have his phone with him,” Galindo said.
Baez is 5’8” and 170 lbs. He may be wearing a black NorthFace jacket or a dark-colored hoodie. He is limited in speech, but can communicate by writing on paper.
Family members said he would often explore the city with his dad, and may have taken a Metra train downtown.
Local
“It’s out of ordinary for him. This is out of his routine and everything,” cousin Elida Naya told NBC Chicago.
Naya had a message for her missing cousin.
“Just let us know you’re OK. We’re here for you to take care of you and get through. That’s all that we have is family,” she said.
Anybody with information or who sees Baez is asked to call 911.
