Missing man in the US
AUSTRALIAN MOTHER PLEAS FOR SON TO MAKE CONTACT FROM THE UNITED STATES
AN AUSTRALIAN FAMILY HAS HIRED A PRIVATE investigator in an effort to locate John Regan, who failed to return home from an overseas trip for his sister’s wedding in February. Regan, 34, had embarked on a solo holiday to the US in November to meet with a post doctoral fellow at Georgetown University, Sara Singha, who he met online after beating cancer and becoming interested in meditation. Despite not having much money and only packing enough clean clothes for a week, Regan extended his stay several times.
His aunt, Rhonda Hatton, shared on Facebook: “[His mother] Anne spoke to John on the 16th January and asked him had he booked his flight home as his sister’s wedding was getting close. He assured her he would be home the following weekend.”
But after travelling to Washington DC following his meeting with Singha, Regan gradually ceased contact. According to Anne, the language used in Regan’s last few text messages “doesn’t sound like John at all”.
“I want you to know I’m safe and doing fine,” he wrote. However, his family suspect Regan may not have written the messages after all.
The last text she received read: “Like Superman, I’ve needed to find my temple of solitude … please trust that I am well and that I know what I’m doing.”
Regan’s sister Jessica told the ABC she believes he may have joined a religious group. “I feel like maybe it’s a cult or a sect that he’s been put into because he was doing his meditation,” Jessica said.
When Hatton contacted Singha via email, she was told, “I do not know John’s whereabouts. He was very well when I last saw him and was travelling to see friends and did not give me any further information.”
PI George Kucik is using Regan’s bank card history to try to track him down. “The gradual change in his behaviour gives me hope [he is alive],” Kucik told the ABC. “We aren’t trying to force him back to Australia. We just want to know he’s OK and not in America against his will.” Anne tells WHO: “We are really worried and are eager to hear from John – he is missed terribly.”