PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A "Public Safety Alert" for Daquan Rountree, a missing 19-year-old from Portsmouth, hit cellphones in the area on Tuesday. It was issued by detectives with the Portsmouth Police Department, since no one has seen Daquan in more than a week.
Virginia State Police issued an Ashanti Alert for Daquan last week after family members said he disappeared during a mental health crisis without any clothes, his ID or his phone.
Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins said his department is dedicated to finding the missing 19-year-old.
“We’re trying to do all we can to bring him home to his family,” Jenkins said. “Obviously every day that goes by makes this a little but more difficult, but we want to hold out hope as a community, we want to hold out hope for the family, that we’re going to find this young man or at least get some information to provide to the family.”
Police officers and community members teamed up for a search party around Pulaski Street Tuesday afternoon. That’s where family members say they last saw Daquan.
Family members of the 19-year-old say he ran out of his father’s home the night of December 10th.
Gabriel Rountree said his son wanted to harm himself, but as he put potential weapons out of his son's reach, Daquan ran off without any clothes.
“I haven’t seen him since,” Rountree said. “That night he left, it was cold, it was raining. Hypothermia is real. Did he find shelter that night? Did he pass out somewhere and could be lying up freezing? Could somebody have picked him up, had him in their house, holding him against his will? There’s so many possibilities and it’s got my mind going a million miles an hour.”
Search teams went door-to-door passing out fliers to neighbors and searching nearby bushes and the cemetery for any sign of Daquan.
“He was naked. He wasn’t in his right state of mind,” Rountree said. “He didn’t have anything on him – no ID, no phone, no nothing.”
Investigators are asking people in the Pulaski Street area to check their cameras for any sign of him.
The family is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to Daquan Rountree’s safe return. Anyone with information is asked to call the police.