BOONE, N.C. -- A college student who has been missing since April would have celebrated his twentieth birthday with friends and family Friday. Instead, his loved ones are just hoping he’s alive.
Martin Roberts went missing from Appalachian State in Boone back on April 21. No one has seen or heard from him since. On Friday, friends and family lit candles in the hope that it will guide him home.
“Every day there’s a reason to be sad and to miss him more than you did the day before,” Martin’s father John said. “He’s the greatest kid there ever was-- ever is.”
John and his wife Abbie celebrated their only son’s twentieth birthday without him. They even made a cake.
It still hasn’t been touched.
“Everybody is just dumbfounded about what happened, how it happened, what could have happened that could make him take off like this,” John said.
Martin left a note the day he went missing saying he was leaving everyone behind. There’s been no trace of him since that day.
“We love him and we care about him and we miss him,” John said. “We don’t care what the circumstances are-- we just want to know that he’s okay and we would love to have him home immediately.”
On social media, Martin’s parents asked everyone to post a picture of a candle with the hashtag “#LightACandle4Martin.”
John says he holds on to hope that Martin will come home for his birthday.
His cake is still waiting.
“We have all the hope and the faith in the world,” John said. “We have to be realistic about the situation and that brings the pain and the emotional roller coaster, but I do have faith and hope that we will see him soon.”
People are primarily posting those candle photos on the “Help Find Martin Roberts” Facebook Page.
If know where Martin is, or if you see him, you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at (828) 268-6959 or Boone Police at (828) 268-6900.