The search intensifies for 77-year-old “Cowboy Ronnie” Southern, missing since Jan. 30, as neighbors rally to find him.
SAN ANTONIO — He’s known as “Cowboy Ronnie”, a regular at a south-side senior center who sings karaoke on the weekends.
Loved ones say 77-year-old Ronnie Southern never deviates from his weekly routine.
In late January, however, he stopped showing up.
Now, no one can find him and the search for him and his vehicle is growing more urgent.
Southern doesn’t have any family members he’s close with, so neighbors keep an eye on him.
Thursday, Jan. 30, neighbors tell us they saw Southern drive away from his home, but he never came back.
“We’re the ones that have been trying to find him since day one,” said Southern’s neighbor, Martin Pizana, who filed the missing persons report. “We just miss him.”
Pizana’s family lives next door to Southern in the 200 block of Koehler Court. They’ve become family over the past 28 years, which has helped the Pizana family know Southern’s daily routine.
“My kids look at him as a grandpa. We’ve known him forever,” said Pizana.
Monday through Friday, Southern hangs out at the Elvira Cisneros Senior Center.
“He’d go to the center at about 11 o’clock, but first he’d have breakfast at Wendy’s across from the center,” Pizana explained.
Southern returns home between 6:30 and 7 p.m. to beat nightfall because his eyesight doesn’t do well while he’s driving at night.
If Southern is running late, the Pizanas will call him and check on him. They say he always finds a way to keep them updated, too.
“He really doesn’t have a lot of family around him. We’re basically his only family here,” said Pizana.
Saturdays and Sundays, Southern sings karaoke at PicaPica Plaza off Southeast Military Drive. He’ll wear his cowboy hat, vest and boots and sing country tunes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“At the PicaPica, people would call him Cowboy Ronnie because he was always singing country music,” said Pizana. “He had his little book where he wrote down the list of songs he was going to sing that day.”
Thursday, January 30, Pizana said Southern never returned home.
All calls to his cell phone are sent to voicemail.
Pizana said Monday, February 3, they filed a missing persons report with San Antonio Police.
“It had already been three days and we were like no, something’s wrong,” he explained.
In the two months leading up to Southern’s disappearance, Pizana witnessed someone new going over to the house. It was a Hispanic man in his 40’s, he recalled, but he never got a name. Since Southern went missing, they haven’t seen the man again.
“He was a very outgoing person,” said Pizana about his beloved neighbor. “He was very friendly and I think that’s what got him in trouble.”
Pizana said police conducted welfare checks at both of Southern’s properties on the south side, but didn’t find anything. Hoarding conditions, they believe, may have contributed to the difficulty maneuvering through the properties.
Search and Support San Antonio, who is helping the Pizanas in this case, plans to search the properties thoroughly wearing Personal Protective Equipment.
“If somebody has him, let him loose. Let him come back home,” said Pizana. “I’m just hoping we can find him soon so he can go back and start being Cowboy Ronnie again.”
We inquired with Search and Support San Antonio about why this case didn’t qualify for a Silver Alert. They explained, because Southern doesn’t have Alzheimer’s or dementia, and the missing persons report wasn’t filed within 72 hours, his case didn’t meet the criteria.
Southern drives a 2012 white Jeep Liberty with Texas license plate CJN7626.
If you have any information on this case, call SAPD’s missing persons unit at 210-207-7660.
“We’re not stopping until we know where he’s at or what happened to him.”