Teen turned away from mental health facility, went missing days later, family says

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — Vera Kathuri told Channel 2 Action News she believes had her son been admitted to a mental health facility, he would not be missing.

Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln spoke with the family who have been searching for days for 17-year-old Yaron Kathuri.

“We’re desperate to have him back home,” said his mother Vera Kathuri.

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Forty-eight hours before Yaron went missing, his family were attempting to check him into a mental health facility, they said.

“I know he’s fearful, because when he called and said he was letting us down,” said Kathuri.

But the facility she took her son to told her it was at capacity and Yaron would need outpatient treatment.

“I would say if he was admitted — because he was really adamant about getting medication — that maybe could have calmed down his fears about what he was going through,” Kathuri said.

By Wednesday, Yaron’s parents said he went missing after concerns that he might hurt himself.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry dad’ and then the phone went silent,” his mother said.

Kathuri told Channel 2 Action News her son was on his way to Chapel Hill High School Wednesday morning, but he never showed.

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“People are really concerned,” said Yaron’s aunt, Ann Kathuri.

The family told Channel 2 Action News they found his car Saturday, parked at Arbor Place Mall.

“It’s so hard to go to his room and watch his shoes and we can’t have him there,” said Kathuri.

Douglasville Police said Yaron is 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing around 123 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white NASA hoodie and light-blue jeans.

Anyone with any information on Yaron’s whereabouts should contact Douglasville detectives at 678-293-1823 or email gibbsb@douglasvillega.gov.

The family has created a GoFundMe page to help with search expenses.

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