PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – One month after 34-year-old Ronald Henry first went missing, his loved ones and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office still don’t know exactly what happened.
According to Henry’s aunt Layaloni Jacobs, the young father took a trip to Platteville when he decided to take a live-in farm job with a friend and their uncle in early December to earn some extra cash. At the time, Jacobs had hoped to see him off.
“I was like ‘Nephew, pull up on me, I’m at work, I want to see you before you leave,’ and he was like ‘Auntie, I’ll be back in two weeks, you don’t have to do that,’” she recalled. “I just wish I would’ve had a sign or something to tell him just not to go.”
Instead of seeing her nephew, who is originally from the Milwaukee area, Jacobs got a call from his girlfriend, Alicia Bennett, concerned because he hadn’t been answering her phone calls.
Jacobs initially told Bennett not to worry because she figured, with Henry being on a farm, it was just a case of bad service, but after a while, they felt things just didn’t add up. They then got the police involved when Bennett filed a formal missing person report.
Grant County Sheriff Nate Dreckman said since Henry was last seen on Dec. 4, authorities haven’t been able to rule anything out, including whether there was foul play or if Henry just walked off.
“He could be somewhere else with somebody, we don’t know,” Dreckman said. “Every avenue right now is open because we don’t have a clear direction on what really happened with him.”
Dreckman said Henry had lived in Platteville in the past so he knew a lot of people in the area. He also said to get answers they’re looking into every small lead that comes in. Because they’re a smaller agency, they’ve called in for more manpower to assist with the search.
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Authorities from the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation have been helping the sheriff’s office conduct interviews and searches in connection with Henry’s disappearance. They’ve also done aerial surveillance and police dog searches around the farm where the 34-year-old was last seen.
Dreckman also said they have interviewed the Platteville family Henry was staying with when he first disappeared and searched their property. He said from the start that family has been very cooperative with police and are not suspects at this point.
Still, Jacobs worries more could be done for her nephew. She said her family has plans to make the trip to Platteville themselves, once again, to try and get more answers.
“Just because him being a Black man and in that town. I just feel like if it was one of the local residents that’s staying there more would be done,” she said. “We just need closure, we just need some answers. I just want him found. That’s it.”
Dreckman said his office does plan to widen their search because their efforts so far have not led to enough answers. He also wants to assure Henry’s family that his team is not giving up and is putting everything they have toward finding their loved one.
“The bottom line is we have a missing person. I don’t care who he is or she is, it doesn’t matter,” Dreckman said. “We are putting everything forth to try and find this person, period.”
Henry is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a heavy blue winter coat, basketball shorts and dark tennis shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 608-723-2157.
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