University of Washington police found Jamaal Stroschein’s bag, which contained his rubberband men and crafts.
After sightings on the Seattle campus last Saturday and Sunday, police were getting closer to locating the missing 32-year-old Redmond man.
The bag was key.
“That led them to believe that he was close by,” said Redmond Police Department (RPD) Cmdr. Tim Gately.
At a RPD press conference last week, Jamaal’s father, Jerome Stroschein, displayed a rubberband man.
“Anywhere you find these, you’ll find him. He took a few thousand of those with him,” Jerome said.
At about 10 p.m. on Sunday near the campus, UW police located Jamaal, who had been missing since around noon on June 3 near his family’s residence in the 18200 block of Northeast 31st Street in Redmond. Gately said UW police found him to be in satisfactory condition, and Redmond police soon arrived on the scene to transport the man back to Redmond and his awaiting family at about midnight. In Redmond, aid personnel tended to Jamaal, who cleared the uninjured man to return home.
“He was not in distress,” Gately said of Jamaal, a high-functioning autistic adult who has been diagnosed with type-two diabetes and anxiety.
As for Jamaal’s whereabouts during the 11 days he was gone, Gately said, “He was living on the street and in local shelters.”
The case was challenging, RPD Chief Ron Gibson said in a previous report, because Jamaal has a limited social network, he doesn’t work so there were no co-workers to interview and he doesn’t have a cell phone, credit card, bus pass or vehicle.
Also previously reported, RPD Cmdr. Shari Francois said that Jamaal had left home in the past for a few days, but had managed to return home and was located. This case brought a higher rate of concern since he was been missing for an extensive period of time with an unknown amount of money, change of clothing or his medication.
Gately said that RPD detectives have met with the family again to discuss the situation and put them in contact with adult protection services.
“The Redmond Police Department would like to thank all of our partners in the community, in neighboring law enforcement agencies and in the media for helping us search,” Gately said.
