The Austin Police Department is looking for a man disappeared 45 years ago.
This isn't a cold case involving a missing person because the man's family first reported his disappearance in January 2021.
Brian Thomas Vargo was last seen on March 9, 1976. The 21-year-old had withdrawn from the University of Texas at Austin and was traveling to Colorado at the time, according to the Austin Police Department.
While in Colorado, Vargo's car broke down. He then traveled back to Houston to get his car's title. Vargo also saw his mother, who dropped him off at a Houston bus station so he could go back to Austin.
Later, Vargo's parents were told that their son never made it to his Austin apartment. They went to Austin and found Brian Vargo's wallet in his apartment, but not their son.
Since then, no one has heard from or seen Vargo, who was 6 feet tall and 150lbs at the time.
His niece Amanda Vargo Wattecamps explained at a press conference on Thursday why the family waited so long to report the disappearance. She said her grandmother was discouraged from filing a missing person's report and was told that maybe her son wanted to disappear.
“The circumstances are very iffy on whether he wanted to disappear or whether there was foul play,” said Wattecamp, who was born 10 years after her uncle disappeared.
“I can’t imagine what my grandmother has gone through, and it’s time she got closure," she said.
Photo: Austin Police Department