AUSTIN (KXAN) – Family members of a McAllen man missing in Austin worry he is in danger. Joshua Torres, 21, has not been seen or heard from since June 21 when he told his mother he was going in to an HEB to change clothes.
Torres never returned to his mother’s car. Security video from the HEB near Slaughter and Manchaca shows he never went in to the grocery store.
“We have no clue where he’s at,” said Lourdes Garcia, Torres’ aunt. “He’s didn’t take a wallet with him. He has no money. He hadn’t been eating for a couple of days- so we’re kind of worried.”
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Family members are also concerned because Torres was not acting like himself in the days before he disappeared. His mother said he was acting paranoid and anxious. When she searched his room in McAllen, she found what she thought was incense.
“It turned out it was some bath salts- it’s supposed to be like a natural herb or something like that so we’re kind of worried because the side effects from that just makes you think and feel and go crazy,” said Garcia.
At Austin Recovery, Director of Admissions Angela VIckrey, said they are seeing an increase in the number of people coming in to the facility who have used bath salts.
“This substance is really dangerous,” said Vickrey. “I think with a certain population- the younger population- it’s seen as new and edgy- it’s the current drug on the scene. This substance has an amphetamine type feel to it- so there psychosis and paranoia involved.”
Garcia and the Torres family have been handing out flyers with Torres’ picture on them all over South Austin, but so far, the photograph has not sparked any leads.
The Austin Police Department has opened a missing persons case and the Texas Department of Public Safety has listed Torres as an endangered person.
“We just wish that if anybody sees this if they could just call us and let us know that they’ve seen him so we can know that he’s doing OK- that he’s fine,” said Garcia.
Torres is described as 5’4, 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt with a pair of white and grey plaid cargo shorts and black sandals. He has a small scar over his left eye brow and a tattoo on the right side of his chest of a six point star.
