NEW YORK — Investigators with the New York Police Department confirmed early Wednesday afternoon that a previously unidentified man found in The Bronx is not missing Texas State University student Jason Landry.
Investigators in Texas and New York worked to figure out if the man was the missing student but, in an update, the NYPD said the man was later identified as a resident of Yonkers.
Landry went missing on Dec. 13, 2020, on his way to the Houston area. His family lives in Missouri City, Texas.
His vehicle was discovered crashed in Luling, Texas. He seemed to have stripped out of his clothing, leaving behind his belongings. Among them was a backpack, a useable amount of marijuana, a laptop, gaming equipment, a bag of toiletries and more.
Law enforcement officials have been trying to solve his disappearance for a year and a half. Investigators believed they had a possible new lead when the unidentified man was found in New York.
On Tuesday, the New York Police Department posted a tweet asking for the public's help identifying a man found unconscious and unresponsive but apparently uninjured in the streets of The Bronx. The man did not possess any identification.
Jason Landry's father, Kent Landry, then confirmed to KVUE that detectives were working to see if the man found by New York police was his son.
A post on the Facebook page "Missing Person - Jason Landry" also states that detectives with the Texas Attorney General's Office were in contact with the New York detectives about Jason Landry. According to the post, the Texas detectives sent the necessary identification information for Jason Landry to New York and detectives should be able to positively conclude if the man is Jason Landry or not sometime Wednesday. The afternoon update confirmed the man was not Jason Landry.
"Thank you to everyone who have contacted us to let us know about this young man," the post reads in part. "Please be in prayer for whoever this young man is and his family. We pray that he'll be identified, recover and be able to rejoin his family."
KVUE spoke with Kent Landry Wednesday afternoon.
"We will never give up hope, but the great thing is we have internal hope in Christ, so I am going to see my son no matter what. It may be here, it may be in heaven, but ... we are so thankful for all the people like y'all who keep his story out there, and just would ask for all your listeners and readers and those watching this, if they see it, pray for our son, we appreciate it, and be praying for this young man, whoever he is, and all the thousands of people missing across the country," he said.
Britny Eubank on social media: Twitter
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Billboard in Luling, Texas, installed to help find missing Texas State student
- Caldwell County investigators release body cam footage in Jason Landry case
- Where is Jason Landry? Texas State student still missing one year later
- 'It's been over 300 days' | TEXSAR returns to Caldwell County in search of Jason Landry
- Phone data reveals final known moments before disappearance of Texas State student Jason Landry