Johnny Roop, 20, has not been seen since Friday.
Nearly a week after Virginia Tech student Johnny Roop mysteriously disappeared, his mother is demanding answers, saying the 20-year-old's disappearance was “completely out of character for him.”
Authorities believe Roop left the Virginia Tech area alone on Feb. 16 and said there was no information to believe he was in immediate danger.
“What we're worried about right now is that we're just not aware of it and we're mentally messed up. And we have no idea what that is,” Loop said. Your mother, Veronica Widener, told ABC News on Thursday. “We just want to locate him and make sure he's okay.”
Widener described her son as a self-motivated, high-achieving student. He has a “peaceful” disposition and is passionate about his Christian faith, she said.
Roop, a fourth-year student at Virginia Tech's School of Business, is scheduled to graduate this May. He hopes to graduate from college in three years and pursue a career in financial planning, his mother said.
Roop has been friends with his college roommate since childhood. They all grew up in Abingdon, Va., about 100 miles from Virginia Tech, and Widener said his son would drive over every few weeks to visit.
Widener said her last communication with Roop was on February 14, when they exchanged “Happy Valentine's Day” messages via text message.
She said the last time anyone physically saw Roop was on the night of February 15, when Roop attended his roommate's birthday dinner with his roommate's parents and his behavior was… It looked normal.
That night, the roommates talked about an online exam scheduled for the next day, and Roop likely planned to drive home from Abingdon to take the exam on Feb. 16, Widener said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said investigators believe Roop likely left the county alone on the afternoon of Feb. 16 and traveled southwest toward Abingdon.
The sheriff's office said surveillance camera footage showed him in the Christiansburg neighborhood, just a few miles south of the apartment, until about 3:30 p.m.
According to the university, Roop's phone rang at 4:26 p.m. near New River Valley Mall, near Roop's apartment.
“Based on interviews with friends and family (in addition to video surveillance), it was noted that Mr. Roop's behavior on Friday was not consistent with normal behavioral patterns. However, the information received indicated that he was lonely. “This appears to indicate that there is,” the sheriff said. the office said in a statement Tuesday. “Although we have no information to suggest he is in immediate danger, Mr. Roop appears to be acting outside of his normal behavior and we have contacted him and We want to make sure that you're really at risk.''Okay. “
“This doesn't make sense to anyone. You know, the steps he's taken look like a kind of annihilation,” Widener said. “Our concern at this point is whether he poses a danger to himself.”
The university said Roop was driving a black 2018 Toyota Camry with a Virginia Tech flag sticker on the back window. This vehicle's license plate number is Virginia TXW6643.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at 540-382-4343.
