Julie Kouba has no idea why her 53-year-old brother would leave behind his established business and home in Florida to travel to Montgomery and vanish.
James Burckhard was last seen in Montgomery on March 10 when he checked out of the Comfort Inn hotel on West South Boulevard where he had been staying for two weeks.
He hasn’t been seen since.
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“I am praying that someone finds him,” Kouba, who lives in Iowa, said. “We just want to help him. We love him, and we just want him back.”
Burckhard’s neighbor told Kouba that he thought Burckhard had traveled to Montgomery from his home in Fleming Island, Fla., located about 15 miles southwest of Jacksonville, to enter a rehabilitation facility for alcohol abuse. There doesn’t appear to be any records, though, of Burckhard ever entering such a facility.
Even though she hasn’t seen her brother in three years, Kouba said they remained close, and she thinks he would have told her if he had a problem with alcohol.
Kouba said she is now afraid her older brother is sick and in need of help. She filed a missing persons report with the Montgomery Police Department on May 29.
“We are a little afraid that he is ill with more than just alcohol,” she said. “We don’t know why he would have gone to Alabama. None of it makes sense to us.”
Kouba said she last spoke to Burckhard on the phone on March 9. He told her he was handling some personal business and would be home on March 13. Burckhard never returned home.
Burckhard had apparently asked a colleague to handle service calls at his business, Clay Copier, which he had operated for 20 years, for a few days. Then, he traveled to the Montgomery area where he sold his Jeep for cash.
Phone records led Montgomery Police to the man who purchased Burckhard’s Jeep. That man told police he dropped Burckhard off at the Comfort Inn hotel.
Kouba said the Comfort Inn manager confirmed Burckhard had stayed at the hotel, and said he would walk out to get beer every day. He wasn’t seen with another person.
Police have visited other Montgomery hotels and homeless shelters looking for Burckhard. He hasn’t entered any local hospitals either.
Kouba said she knows her brother’s money must be running out if it hasn’t already. She is asking anyone who may have seen her brother to call the police.
Anyone who has seen Burckhard is asked to call Montgomery Police at 334- 241-2831 or Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP.
