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.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
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.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Mother, 2 children identified as victims of fiery crash on Georgia highway
- Roof collapses at Buckhead Saloon, could be hours before 2-alarm fire is out
- Suspect who stabbed woman to death hit, killed by semi truck on 285, police said
“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.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
IN OTHER NEWS:
This browser does not support the video element.