Parents of missing Charlotte County 19-year-old looking for answers

Reporter: Morgan Rynor
Published: Updated:
Gage Jackson, 19 – Photo shared with WINK News.

A family is pleading for help from the public tonight. They just want their teenage son home.

Gage Jackson, 19, disappeared more than a week ago. And his parents said he would never run away.

“I hate to feel for the worst, but I think as more days go by, I mean, no,” Jackson’s mother Heather Jackson said. “Every day that goes by, it’s worse and worse.”

“It’s not looking good,” Jackson’s father Randy Jackson said.

A lot of things are serving as a reminder to Jackson’s family that he disappeared. The family’s front yard is full of items that remind his parents of his absence — his boat. Jackson loves to fish.

Woods in front of the family’s home have been thoroughly searched, and it’s one of the many places they have been looking.

“We knew something wasn’t right immediately,” Heather said.

Jackson never showed up to work last week.

“Nobody answered. Nobody was home,” Heather said. “So his boss called his roommate Matt and asked if he had seen him, and Matt said, ‘No.'”

It has been a nightmare for Jackson’s parents.

“If he’s alive and well, he knows we are looking for him,” Heather said. “And I don’t feel that he would go and not call us. There’s no way.”

Jackson’s parents say there are too many red flags. Their son just bought a new car for himself a few weeks ago and had plans to bring it to the Redneck Mud Park with his friends.

“I know that he would not have left on Tuesday and just dropped everything,” Heather said. “Quit his job, didn’t take any of his clothes, didn’t take anything and just leave while that truck is sitting in front of his house right now.”

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said Jackson was not one to run away. Tips flooded in during the beginning of his missing report.

“But they just fell off,” Heather said. “We’ve exhausted them ourselves, and so did the police.”

The parents are trying not to lose hope.

“It’s pretty common knowledge that as time goes by, the chances are not as, the outcome is not as good,” Heather said.

Family and friends are still conducting their own search parties.

“His friends have looked in all the woods where he lives off of Washington Loop, in the orange groves, everywhere,” Heather said.

Jackson’s parents are praying someone in the community comes forward.

“Somebody needs to see this and get word to him or get word to the people who know what happened and just come forward,” Randy said. “I don’t even care what you did. Just come forward. We just want an answer. We just want to know.”

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