By T. Scott Boatright
A missing child who disappeared from his home in Claiborne Parish three years ago is getting some national notice this week from PEOPLE magazine as his story is featured in the publication’s exclusive “Faces of the Missing.”
The magazine says the families of these missing children desperately hope to find them, and authorities often may be only one clue away from bringing them home.
Rondreiz “Junior” Phillips when he disappeared from his family’s home in Lisbon at the age of 4, reportedly around 11:30 a.m. on April 5, 2018. Initial police reports indicated his mother, Shelia S. Phillips, said she was inside the house and her boyfriend, Nicholas Demarcus Gilbert, was working on his truck nearby.
At the time of his disappearance Phillips was reported to be wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, and yellow rubber boots.
Search crews spent weeks looking for Phillips after his disappearance and the FBI was also involved in the search. Ponds and wells were drained, but no sign of Phillips was ever found.
Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective Jay Perry told PEOPLE magazine that the case is “very active” and the search continues with the hope that new leads could come in.
“We’re committed to working on this until we find him,” People reported Perry as saying. “He deserves that. He is not forgotten.”