Family desperate for answers after New York man Jared Oswald's May disappearance

NBC News

2 days ago

'We choose faith, and we choose hope,' Esther Kwong told Dateline. 'He will come home.'
Esther's brother, Jared Oswald, vanished on May 19. The 50-year-old was last spotted in Rochester, New York. 'He would never do this,' Esther said.
Jared, affectionately known as 'Bear' by his family, grew up in Palmyra, New York, the youngest of seven siblings. 'He was just a big little boy, and that's what stuck,' Esther said of her brother's nickname.
Esther says the siblings had a very religious upbringing. 'Very good Christian household,' she said. 'We had good parents with really honest, clean values.'
The tight-knit family was raised in a big white house with trails, woods, and snakes. 'We were country kids,' she said. 'We were just doing all sorts of things outside, which was wonderful. We were inseparable.'
That sibling bond extended into adulthood. Esther says she lives just five minutes away from her baby brother, his wife, and their young son. 'He's not shy, but he's more quiet,' Esther said. 'If you're in a conversation, he's very smart and educated, but he's not going to be the loud voice at the gathering.'
Esther says she and Jared bonded over fitness—something he takes very seriously. 'He started bodybuilding when he was like 12 or 13,' she said. 'We're very active people.'
She says she last spoke to her brother on Friday, May 16. 'I probably spoke with him about 40 minutes on the phone — just shooting the breeze,' Esther recalled.
Then, on the morning of May 19, Esther says she received multiple calls from Jared. 'He had called me around 7:11 a.m., and because I was reading my Bible, I had my phone on Do not Disturb,' she explained. 'He called me again around 7:14 a.m. I didn't see them.' Esther says she checked her phone around 7:30 a.m. and called her brother back, but he didn't answer. 'He did not return my call.'
Esther assumed Jared was on his way to work at the time and would call her back later — until she got a concerning message in their family group chat. 'One of my older brothers, who owns the business that my little brother works for, he texted our family,' she said. 'He said, 'Has anyone talked to Bear today? He didn't show up for work.''
Esther says her brother would never miss a day of work. 'We decided as a family right around 11 a.m. to call 911 immediately because for Bear not to go to work — that's so out of character for him,' she said.
The Rochester Police Department is investigating Jared's disappearance. Dateline spoke with Captain Greg Bello, who says Jared was last seen on May 19 when he left his house on Harding Road in Charlotte, a neighborhood in Rochester. Security footage last captured him that morning at Turning Point Park, not far from his home.
Esther says it's a park Jared went to often. 'So, for him to go to the park frequently
was normal, but not when he had to go to work. That would never happen,' she said.
Captain Bello says the search has been focused on that park. 'We've conducted multiple searches throughout the park using different technology,' he said. 'We were down there yesterday with some of our rope teams that were down there checking along an embankment. We've checked a few different places along the park, pretty exhaustively, and unfortunately, we haven't located him.'
When asked if foul play is suspected in Jared's disappearance, Bello said it's too early to say. 'It's under investigation by detectives from our criminal investigation unit,' he said. 'We don't believe any criminality at this point.'
Esther says the family and Jared's friends have been conducting their own searches. 'He has hundreds of friends that he would consider good friends,' she said. 'They were taking off work. They were at my house. We had 420 people show up for his search.'
But they have found no sign of him, something that has left them all confused. 'We're all baffled because my brother would never just not contact us in any situation in his life,' she said. 'He's the baby, and he absolutely has contact with his family daily.'
Esther believes her brother is still out there and has a message for her baby Bear: 'I want him to know that his family loves him unconditionally. There's nothing that could separate our love from him.'
Jared is 5'8' and weighs 175 lbs. He has dirty blond hair and blue eyes. 'He has beautiful sparkling blue eyes,' Esther said. He was last seen wearing a grey hoodie, a green shirt, and blue jeans.