Does Anyone Care? Young Man with Asperger’s Gone Missing

by Adelle Tilton on November 18th, 2005

I found this article on a CBS-affiliate Web site the other day. It is from a Boston, Massachusetts television station. And I am wondering, doesnt anyone care that this young man is missing?

William Lamar, who is 18 years-old apparently took a vacation in Europe without his parents knowledge. He was last seen in late October of this year. He was supposed to return to Logan International Airport from Heathrow in London on November 4^th, but no one has seen him. Lamar suffers from Aspergers Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism.

The limitations of Aspergers are putting this young man seriously at risk. Whether he is in Europe or in the United States is irrelevant. He is described as being vulnerable which, in a person on the spectrum, translates into easy to take advantage of. He has been in positions of danger before and there is no reason to think anything has changed that would alter that situation.

Lamar is approximately 61 and weighs about 185 lbs. He has light brown or dark blonde hair and has blue eyes. He is a student at Northeastern University. If you know anything of this young man, please call Northeastern at 617-373-2121.

One of the reasons this article concerned me so much is that when I tried to find some information about this case, I came up empty. The FBI does not show anything on him on their Web site. “The Boston Globe,” a leading newspaper in the area has not featured anything since November 6^th, two days after Lamar missed his flight at Heathrow. I could find no information on him at Northeastern’s campus Web site either. I am hoping this means he has been found but I do doubt it. Generally when a report is filed, and the person is located, the media is notified, and it has not been so to the best of my knowledge.

Someone needs to be concerned. I am sure there is a family that is and within the autism community we need to be very concerned. For every William Lamar we hear about, I am sure there are many more that we don’t hear about.

Local Teen with Asperger’s Missing in Europe