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WEST JORDAN — A 24-year-old man has been missing for more than a week after being released from the Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Jordan, family members say.
The West Jordan Police Department is asking for help to locate Nate Vamvas, a young father who went missing on March 18. He was last seen in the area of 3500 W. 9000 South at around 10 p.m., police said.
Vamvas spent about two hours at the emergency room and was disoriented when he left on foot, a family representative said. Investigators believe he fell into a nearby ditch before going to the Salt Lake Community College Jordan campus.
"He found a girl there and we have security surveillance from the campus with her on it," Vamvas' sister-in-law said. "He talked to this girl and she said when she saw him he was covered head-to-toe in mud … and he asked her if he could use her phone so he could call my sister and then he asked her for the address to the closest Maverik, because he said he knew my sister would be able to find him there."
However, Vamvas was unsuccessful in contacting his wife before heading to the Maverik, the family said. The store also doesn't have any footage of him ever arriving at the store, according to the family.
Vamvas hasn't contacted anyone since he tried to call his wife, investigators said. The family said this is uncharacteristic because he usually calls his father every day to say good night and tell him he loves him. There also hasn't been any activity on his credit cards since the day he went missing, according to the family.
He and his wife moved to Utah from California in November. The family said Vamvas doesn't have a group of good friends in the area yet.
"He's a dad and a husband and it's a tragedy to not know where he is," the family spokesman said. "It would be nice if we are able to find him to have closure."
The family is hoping people in the area might have either seen Vamvas or found evidence of him passing through their yard. The spokesman said it dipped below freezing during the week he disappeared, so he may have sought shelter on somebody's property.
A group with the family searched a field behind the SLCC campus and found Vamvas' hospital bag, the spokesman said. The clothes were missing and they haven't found any other leads since then, the spokesman said.
Police said Vamvas was last seen wearing Converse shoes and a black hoodie. They said he 5-foot-8 with a slender build and a light complexion.
Anyone with information about Vamvas or his location can contact the West Jordan Police Department at 801-840-4000.
