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Case Description

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Jonthan Hepner, a 56-year-old man from Erie, Pennsylvania, was last seen on December 24, 2017. Before his disappearance, Hepner had informed his friends that he planned to visit his father in Alabama for Christmas. However, he never arrived at his father's home. After he failed to return, his friends contacted his father in January, prompting a welfare check. When police visited Hepner's residence, they found unsettling signs, including a half-packed suitcase and his gun left on the nightstand. ...Read More
Last Seen: Dec 24, 2017

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Victim Details

Jun 10, 2020

Jun 30, 2021

Jonthan

Hepner

62

56

75 inches

76 inches

250 lbs

275 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

In the winter of 2017, Jonthan Leroy Hepner, a 56-year-old man from Erie, Pennsylvania, told friends of his plans to travel to Alabama to spend Christmas with his father. He was last seen on December 24, 2017. However, he never arrived at his father's home, and when he failed to return to Pennsylvania, his friends grew concerned and contacted his father in January. This prompted his father to request a welfare check from the Millcreek Township Police Department. What the police discovered at Hepner's residence was unsettling; a suitcase was only half-packed, and his gun was left on a nightstand, suggesting a departure that was unexpectedly interrupted. Further investigation into Jonthan's disappearance revealed more troubling details. His landlord informed the police that he had not paid his rent for January, which was described as being highly out of character for him. As weeks turned into a month with no word from Hepner, the Millcreek Township Police Department issued a nationwide alert for a welfare check on February 19, 2018. A significant break in the case came when his truck was discovered abandoned in Tennessee. Inside the vehicle, authorities found his wallet, but there was no sign of Jonthan himself. This discovery only deepened the mystery surrounding his whereabouts. The official classification of Jonthan Hepner as a missing person was made on July 12, 2018, when he was entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. The circumstances of his disappearance, a planned holiday trip that never occurred, the unusual state of his apartment, and the discovery of his abandoned truck and wallet in another state, all paint a perplexing picture. The lack of any communication from him and the absence of any clues to his location have left his family and friends in a state of prolonged uncertainty. The case remains an active investigation, a poignant story of a man who seemingly vanished while on his way to celebrate with family, leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions.

Dec 24, 2017

Erie

Pennsylvania

Erie County

16505

No

83740

Millcreek Township Police Department

Erie

Pennsylvania

Erie County

16506

Mark Irwin

Investigator

3608 West 26th Street, Pennsylvania

8148389515

Local

Law Enforcement

2018-986

2018-01-17

Millcreek Township Police Department

Gray or Partially Gray

Brown

Brown

06/06/2026


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