New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
$10K reward offered for info on missing Yale graphic designer
NEW HAVEN — A $10,000 reward is being offered for information regarding the whereabouts of missing Yale graphic designer Anton Sovetov, university police announced Friday.
Sovetov last contacted his colleagues on Feb. 4, Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins said in an email. But a video showing Sovetov checking out groceries at
Elm City Market on Feb. 5 is the last trace police have of the man.
“I want to thank everyone who has assisted the Yale and New Haven police thus far. Mr. Sovetov is a beloved member of Yale’s staff. Those most acutely affected by his disappearance are encouraged to make use of the counseling support services available to the university community,” said Higgins. “Thank you very much for your attention to this urgent matter.”
According to a Yale police missing-person bulletin, Sovetov is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs about 200 pounds and has blue eyes, short brown hair, a moustache and beard.
Anyone with information regarding Sovetov’s disappearance can contact the Yale tip line at 866-888-8644, Higgins said.
Sovetov, 44, a Russian national who has worked as a graphic designer at Yale since 2017, went missing Feb. 5. Yale and New Haven police have been investigating the case “day and night” ever since, but have offered no clues to what may have happened to Sovetov.
The mystery of of his sudden disappearance weighs heavily, colleagues told the Register earlier this month.
John Gambell, whose official title is university printer, heads the graphic design office and is Sovetov’s supervisor. He called Sovetov “a wonderful colleague, really collegial and collaborative.”
“I think I’m just beginning to kind of emerge from the initial shock of it, and I’m having to face the idea that I may never see Anton again,” said Gambell. “And I may know nothing more about what’s happened than I do now. It’s very, very disturbing.”
Sovetov’s only known relative is his mother, who lives in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Casey R. Pickett, director of Yale’s Planetary Solutions Project, said Sovetov created many of the presentations Pickett has given at Yale, to business leaders and globally, such as at the COP23 conference in Bonn, Germany,
in 2017.
“He was just really great to work with,” Pickett said. “He was opinionated in the best kind of way. His approach really clarified where things stood.” Sovetov was focused on getting across ideas simply and directly, Pickett said.
“I can’t tell you how badly I hope we’re just in a really weird break,” Pickett said. He said he feels “really confused and distraught. I find myself being distracted from work and life just thinking about him pretty often. It’s really hard to think of a story that makes this make sense.”
Sovetov studied at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague, Netherlands, for four years before coming to Yale for two years, graduating in 2016.
william.lambert@