Authorities search for Missouri doctor who has been missing more than a week

CASSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Authorities in a small Missouri town are searching for an emergency room physician a week-and-a-half after his mysterious disappearance.

Dr. John Forsyth, 49, was last heard from in text messages around 7 a.m. May 21. Police said he was reported missing when he failed to show up for work later that day at Mercy Hospital in Cassville, a town of 3,100 residents deep in the Missouri Ozarks.

Forsyth’s black Infiniti was found parked in a remote area near an aquatic park in Cassville. The car was unlocked with his wallet, two phones and a laptop inside.

“It doesn’t seem like a person who left with a plan,” Forsyth’s brother, Richard, said Tuesday. “Right now, we really don’t have any breaks in the case. I’m confused, and I’m worried. And I don’t like this one bit.”

Several law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol, have searched about a 9-mile radius around the park using people, dogs and drones. Forsyth’s family set up a Facebook page seeking information.

“My brother has now been missing for week. I’m grieving, I’m afraid, and it feels like the world has tipped into sheer chaos,” his sister, Tiffany Andelin, wrote Monday.

Richard Forsyth said the last person his brother texted with was a woman to whom his brother had recently gotten engaged. The last time Richard saw him was a few days before he went missing.

“We had dinner Wednesday before he disappeared, and we sat and talked for three hours,” Richard Forsyth said. “I told him this is the happiest I’d seen him in a long time. His divorce was final May 11 and I think that gave him energy for future.”

Phone and email messages left Tuesday with Cassville police were not immediately returned. Police have said there were no signs of foul play.

Richard Forsyth said his brother had been at the Cassville hospital for about 15 years. He described John Forsyth as a doting father, family physician and part-time math nerd.