Update: Evan Flanary found alive and well after seeing his ‘missing’ flyer. Full story here
San Francisco police are searching for a 22-year-old man who vanished without a trace nearly a week ago after meeting someone through a social media app.
Evan Flanary, who only recently moved to San Francisco, was last seen on June 19 in the Mission District, said his mother, Deborah Berlingeri.
Missing: Evan Flanary, 22, vanished after allegedly meeting someone from a social media site in San Francisco.
However, according to one commenter on San Francisco Appeal who claimed that she is Flanary’s sister, the missing man was last seen on the 400 block of Harrison Street near the Market District at around 5.30pm last Tuesday.
His family reported him missing after failing to reach him.
Police are now ‘actively searching’ for Mr Flanary, Officer Wilson Ng, a department spokesman, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The missing man’s mother said the 22-year-old disappeared after arranging a meeting with a stranger through a cell phone app.
Police would not specify which app Flanary was using at the time.
Flanary grew up in Medford, Oregon, where his parents still live. He moved to California four months ago and has been staying with a friend, Berlingeri said. He had just earned his merchant marine union card and was looking for work, she said.
His family launched a website, helpfindevan.com, where they said it is very unlike him to vanish without notice. His phone is no longer in service, and he is said to have no money with him.
San Francisco Appeal reported that Flanary’s mother updated her Facebook, saying as of Sunday night, ‘NO pings to towers from Evan’s phone for over 48 hours…The police are in the process of obtaining a court order for phone records.’
Flanary is described as a man with blond hair and blue eyes, standing at 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing 160lbs.
He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a grey hooded sweatshirt and a UC Berkeley baseball cap, and carrying a backpack.
KTVU reported over the weekend that the 22-year-old has no history of any medical or psychological conditions and was not known to be on any medication at the time.
While it remains unknown which site Flanary was using when he disappeared, there has been an explosion of social networking apps in recent years, from the gay-oriented Grindr to Skout, Banjo and Sonar.
The San Francisco-based Skout, which bills itself as a location-based flirting site, has come under fire recently following reports that three teenagers were sexually assaulted by people they met through the app.
Source: DailyMail
Also see:
3 Rape Cases Lead Flirting App To Ban Minors
