During a time when many people are preparing for festive celebrations, the family of a missing 37-year old man with Downs Syndrome is feeling his absence even more this holiday season.
Nathan has been missing from Toronto since May.
“All the efforts are there. Our hopes are very high still to bring Nathan home,” said Nathan’s cousin, Jason Babcock.
Despite talk of him being in Waterloo Region and reports of possible sightings in Guelph, his family soon realized the leads would turn out to be nothing.
“It’s still under investigation. It’s very active so we won’t always know what is going on, on the investigation point,” Babcock said.
Now the family is renewing their calls to bring Nathan home hopefully for the holidays.
“Please come home we love you and we just want you home,” said cousin Allison Babcock.
After a long seven months, the family is grappling with a profound sense of uncertainty and worry.
“We’re finding it very tough because this is a time for family to be together. We realize he’s still with us no matter what,” Jason said.
But he is not alone when it comes to concerns surrounding Nathan’s wellbeing.
“The longer it goes on, the bigger the funny feeling in your stomach gets and the butterflies and that sort of thing, It’s not really making sense,” said Nathan’s former educational assistant, Anne Schlitt.
The family held an event Saturday at the KW Naval Association in Waterloo to spread awareness of Nathan’s situation with the hope that renewed attention on the case might uncover leads that were previously overlooked.
“We’re here to remember Nathan and to have people come together to tell us stories about Nathan and how they know Nathan, in hopes of bringing him home to us,” Allison explained.
Jason says the support from different communities has been overwhelming. There is a Facebook group called ‘Search for Nathan’, where family and friends post updates regularly.
Despite extensive efforts by authorities and the community, Nathan’s disappearance remains a mystery.
“What we want to be is a family, Nathan just let anybody know where you are,” said Jason.
Nathan’s family is expecting to speak with police in early January to gauge what the next steps are in the investigation.
