PANAMA CITY BEACH — Family members of a spring breaker missing since Monday said Thursday they are pleased with search efforts after meeting with leaders from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, but they hope community members will continue to watch out for Reny Jose.
Jose, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student visiting from Rice University in Houston, was reported missing Tuesday morning by companions who traveled here with him.
The family expressed concerns earlier in the day about the search efforts, and the sheriff’s office announced it would direct additional resources to the search for Jose.
“We desperately just want him home and urgently plead with all of Panama City for their help,” the family said in a prepared statement.
The sheriff’s office announced the Joint Agency in-Water Strike (JAWS) team, a unit comprised of members of various state and local law enforcement officers who specialize in marine investigations, will be diving in the Gulf in the area near the house Jose and more than a dozen friends rented for the week.
The sheriff’s office also notified neighboring law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard and the sheriffs of Walton and Okaloosa counties.
Benny Thottam, a friend of Jose’s father who issued a statement on the family’s behalf Thursday morning, said the search had expanded to include vacant buildings in the area.
Jose’s companions said they last saw him about 6:30 p.m. Monday on Front Beach Road not far from the rented home. Deputies later found his clothes, wallet and cellphone in a nearby trash can.
One of Jose’s friends told investigators Jose had taken LSD Monday and talked about committing suicide. Thottam said family members do not believe Jose, a 4.0 student who enjoys playing volleyball and spending time with his family, would have been using drugs.
“This came to us as a shock,” Thottam said. “He was looking forward to graduating and finding a job.”
The BCSO helicopter continued to search by air, and marine units searched the Gulf.
Thottam asked the community to remain vigilant and report any contact with Jose.
“We’re still looking for the community to help out,” he said.
HOW TO HELP
Anyone with information about Reny Jose is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 850-747-5079 or CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS (8477). Jose’s family has created a Facebook page called FIND RENY JOSE to exchange information.