Jia Lin was 21 when he was last seen in Newton, Massachusetts, on the morning of December 14, 2004, at about 7:30 a.m. He was wearing a black coat with a distinctive red stripe on the sleeves and back, black pants, and white sneakers. Prior to returning to Massachusetts he had been staying with his grandmother in Knoxville, Tennessee for three months; his return was recent at the time he vanished.

The Newton Police Department opened an investigation but the initial phase produced few clues and the trail went cold. On December 15, 2016, police received a teletype reporting a fingerprint match for Jia Lin in Panama City, Panama, linked to an application to re-enter the United States; the application was never finalized and there was no confirmed sighting. The case remains open and unresolved.

Did anyone in Newton, Knoxville, or Panama have contact with Jia around late 2004 that could help fill in his movements?