(ReliableNews.org) – On October 2, Navy sailor Nija “Towny” Townsend Jr.’s colleagues contacted his mother, Courtney Frazier, and family members to ask if they’d heard from him. His command had reported him missing after he failed to report to duty. A week later, the military branch confirmed the sailor was found.
According to reports, Townsend was assigned to the USS Germantown in San Diego, California. Reports vary about who was the last person to see him. Ship personnel reported last seeing him around 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, September 30. When he failed to return to the ship two days later, his shipmates began looking for him.
Frazier told Fox News Digital that her son’s lieutenant told her that her son had never gone missing before and that it was “very out of character.” She said Townsend had no known mental health or drug issues.
Cynthia Diaz Richardson, Townsend’s aunt, said the behavior was not like her nephew. She said he was “responsible and would NEVER just go missing.”
The sailor’s mom tried to file a missing person report with the San Diego Police Department but the detective said he didn’t fit the criteria. He directed her to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Their investigators also told her that she couldn’t file a missing person report.
Frazier didn’t understand their refusal to file the report, asking, “Wouldn’t it be better to be safe than sorry?”
Commander Arlo Abrahamson, the Public Affairs Officer for Naval Surface Force, US Pacific Fleet, told reporters that Townsend was found on Saturday, October 7. He said the sailor’s “health and safety remain” the Navy’s priority. The Navy has not said where they found the missing sailor or whether anything was wrong with him. His mother has also not given any details about what led to her son’s disappearance. For now, the details surrounding it remain a mystery.
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