Houston dad gives update on son's disappearance on way home from Texas State
Kent Landry, a former lawyer turned pastor, says he's praying for answers after his son vanished while driving home from Texas State University for a school break.
Jason Landry, a freshman student at Texas State University, has been missing for 3 ½ years after authorities found his car wrecked and abandoned about a mile from where he was last seen – abandoned in the opposite direction of where he was heading.
His family is still waiting for answers – praying someone comes forward with information or that police can crack what has become a cold case.
"They don't even know if he's missing in the sense of a crime – or missing, and he hasn't been found," his father, Kent Landry, told Fox News Digital.
His son was last seen leaving his apartment in San Marcos on the evening of Dec. 13, 2020. He was headed home to Missouri City for Christmas break after his first semester, according to his family.
Kent Landry at a booth dedicated to his missing son Jason at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville. Jason Landry was last seen leaving Texas State University for Christmas break in December 2020. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
He never made it.
A volunteer firefighter found his abandoned car in Luling, Texas, after midnight on Dec. 14. The vehicle was about a mile off course from Landry's route home, in the wrong direction.
Kent Landry, a former lawyer turned pastor, has been counting days since his son was last seen – 1,266 had passed when he spoke with Fox News Digital.
The Landry family is one of several from around the country who converged on Nashville, Tennessee last month to attend CrimeCon in the hope they could raise awareness of their loved one's case and maybe gin up leads.
TEXAS COLLEGE STUDENT GOES MISSING ON WAY HOME FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK; WRECKED CAR FOUND ABANDONED
Jason Landry in an undated photo. (Texas EquuSearch)
"We pray and hope that law enforcement will find someone, or if there's any person who knows something, they come forward," he said. "They can do it anonymously or they can contact law enforcement to help give us answers in closure."
The elder Landry says he understands investigators' frustration in the case – they are dealing with tens of thousands of missing persons a year with limited resources.
As a result, his family and many others are sitting by, hoping and waiting for answers, he added.
A point of frustration in his son's case is that while evidence was recovered, it didn't lead to those answers, just more questions.
Police found his wallet, some of his clothes and his phone. But follow-up searches turned up nothing else.
A man with no ID found unconscious and unresponsive in New York City shared an uncanny resemblance with missing Jason Landry. However, the NYPD later identified him as a resident of nearby Yonkers, and Landry's whereabouts remain unknown. (Texas Attorney General, NYPD)
"They've investigated everything that they have to hand," he said of the Texas Attorney General's Cold Case unit. "They're still willing to investigate more, do more, if it comes to light. But that's about where they stand…kind of in a holding pattern."
In July 2022, the family got a glimmer of hope after a man with a striking resemblance to Landry was discovered unconscious on the other side of the country. However, the NYPD eventually identified the man as a missing resident of the neighboring city of Yonkers and reunited him with family there.
There is a $20,000 reward offered for Landry’s whereabouts.
He is described as 6 feet, 1 inch tall with brown eyes and light brown hair. He weighs around 170 pounds and sometimes wears a goatee. He has scars on his right ankle and the right side of his neck, according to authorities.
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Anyone with information can call the Texas Attorney General’s Office at 512-936-0742 or the anonymous tip line at 726-777-1359.
As the Landry family continues to hope for answers, his father is encouraging supporters to not only share his son's missing person flyer, but also to share flyers for people who have vanished in their own communities.
He also shared a note of advice for parents along with a photo of him dropping his son off at school as a child.
"Make sure that you take time this summer to enjoy the little things with your kids," he wrote.
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