21-year-old missing for 10 days, Maine family says. His wallet, phone were left behind

A 21-year-old Maine man has been missing for 10 days and is without his phone, wallet and medication, according to police and local media reports.

Samuel Mugisha was last seen leaving his Portland apartment in an all-brown outfit the morning of Nov. 4, according to a news release from the Maine State Police. He is described as a 5’11”, 200-pound Black man with black hair, brown eyes and facial hair on his chin.

Mugisha often walked to a family member’s home in Westbrook, a neighboring town, but never showed up there, according to police, who issued a silver alert on Nov. 7.

He “experiences episodes of severe anxiety where he is not able to verbally communicate,” according to a news release from the Portland Police Department.

Mugisha, an immigrant from Kenya who works as a caregiver, can occasionally forget where he is and faint due to his mental illness, according to the Portland Press Herald.

He left his wallet, cell phone and medications behind, along with “any means to sustain himself,” according to WGME.

“We love him. We miss him. I’d tell him to come back home,” his cousin told the outlet. “Home is safe. We have to take care of him. We’re waiting for him, anytime feel free to come back home.”

Mugisha may have been seen hitchhiking in jeans and a white T-shirt near Rockport, about 80 miles north of Portland, on Nov. 11, according to an update from the Portland Police Department.

But family members reviewed a photo from a surveillance camera and are “confident it is not him,” according to the Portland Press Herald.

Police have been using drones and airboats to search for signs of Mugisha in the Presumpscot River and nearby wooded areas, according to Bangor Daily News.

Anyone with information about Mugisha’s location is urged to contact the Portland Police Department at 207-874-8584.

When contacted by McClatchy News, a spokesperson for the Portland Police did not have any further updates.

Over half a million people go missing in the United States every year, and tens of thousands of them stay missing for over one year, according to the Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 5:44 PM with the headline "21-year-old missing for 10 days, Maine family says. His wallet, phone were left behind."