Jason Ronald Douglas was 19 when he disappeared from his uncle’s home in Milton Keynes in the UK.
He and his beloved uncle had been playing soccer when his uncle collapsed and died on the field, suffering a massive heart attack.
Now homeless, Jason told family back in Australia that he would stay with friends until he got back on his feet. They heard from him for another few weeks, then he vanished.
His family tried everything to relocate him but got little help from official channels. They started a Facebook page to help the search, printed thousands of flyers and put them up across the UK, contacted homeless shelters, to no avail.
They heard nothing for 16 years until last week when a call to the UK police finally bore fruit. Jason had been arrested for trying to steal food in the West Midlands in October 2014.
Police got in touch with Jason and asked permission to pass on his phone number. He agreed and the next day, Jason’s mother spoke to her son for the first time in years.
Jason told his mother that he had been living on the streets.
He is suffering a number of health issues like arthritis and believed his family had abandoned him. He couldn’t return home or alert authorities because his passport and ID had been stolen. He is now awaiting a new passport to return to Australia.
Jason with his sister and niece before he disappeared.
