Police have called off the search for a local man missing since Monday after he reportedly called his mother Saturday evening to let her know he was OK.
Authorities have been searching for 35-year-old Antiquon Harris since he disappeared in a work vehicle while purportedly running a delivery route. But after an apparently brief phone conversation with Harris on Saturday evening, his mother contacted Columbus Police Department.
Still, City Public Information Officer Joe Dillon said police do not know Harris’ whereabouts or why he went missing.
“He just said, ‘I’m fine,'” Dillon told The Dispatch. “(He) didn’t explain anything. Apparently it was a very brief conversation, just saying he was OK.”
Harris has been a delivery driver since Jan. 3 for Corporate Dining Concepts, a company that provides catering and vending services for businesses, and went missing with a company van Monday morning when he was supposed to be driving a delivery route near Northport and Cottondale, Alabama. Regional Manager John Ball reported Harris did not clock in for work Monday. Since Harris is still new to the company, Ball said he just assumed he forgot to clock in. It wasn’t until Tuesday that supervisors at Corporate Dining Concepts learned neither Harris nor the van made it to the Northport and Cottondale offices.
Mississippi Highway Patrol officers found the van abandoned near Waynesboro on Wednesday.
CPD will wait until consulting with the owner of Corporate Dining Concepts before determining whether Harris will face criminal charges, Capt. Brent Swan told The Dispatch.
Harris was arrested in June 2016 and charged with burglary of a dwelling, domestic violence-aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. His bond was set at $15,000, according to an administrative assistant at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. He has not been indicted.
Harris’ mother, Carol Harris, told The Dispatch in a phone interview on Saturday that her son did not disclose his location during the phone call Saturday but told her he would call back later.
She added she was so happy when her son called on Saturday, she fainted.
“I feel like a million bucks,” she said.
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