EATON, Colo. -- Nathan Schwartz left his Eaton home for Colorado Springs a little over two weeks ago. The best anyone can tell, he never arrived on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs campus.
His family doesn't know why he disappeared and they don't care. They just want him home.
To say the last three weeks have been agonizing for Nathan’s parents, Jonathan and Michelle Schwartz, would be an understatement.
“It’s been devastating,” said Jonathan Schwartz. “Anybody who is a parent can relate to this. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, losing a child or having a child missing.”
Their 22-year-old son, Nathan, vanished nearly two weeks ago and hasn’t been heard from since.
“Whether the child is 2, 22 or 42, it’s still your child,” Jonathan said.
Nathan’s disappearance remains a mystery.
He left his parents’ home in Eaton on Sunday, Feb. 21 to go back to in-person learning at UCCS.
He was seen getting gas near Colorado Springs on Monday, February 22 and texted back and forth with his mom on Wednesday, February 24. But on Friday, February 26, there was silence. Michelle texted Nathan and got no response.
Nathan’s phone pinged for the last time on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Salida, Colorado.
And then, Sunday morning, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Police Department did a student welfare check, and went to his room and discovered that he hadn’t moved back into the dorm.
On Tuesday, March 2, Nathan’s black Toyota RAV4 was found on a public street in Salida.
And last weekend, police, family and friends launched a massive search.
“The community of Salida and Salida Police Department has been just incredible,” Jonathan said. “So helpful and caring and loving. The state of Colorado has some incredible, caring people.”
While they can’t discuss the evidence, Jonathan and Michelle say they, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, believe Nathan is alive.
“We have good reason to believe that he was not a lost hiker,” Jonathan said. “And we also have good reason to believe there was no foul play.”
The family is now pleading for his return.
“Nathan, we love you, we miss you. We just want to be in contact with you,” Jonathan said. “We just want to know that you’re safe.”
“We love him,” Michelle said. “If there’s any way he can reach out to us, to just please do so.”
“We want him to know that everything is OK and we want him to know that if life takes a different path for him, that’s okay,” Jonathan said. “But we’re still here to support him.”
“We miss him, we love him and we just want him to contact us if he hears this message,” Michelle said.
