The family says a witness has come forward who says he saw Zacharias walking with an older man who was about 6 feet tall with platinum blond hair.
SCHERTZ, Texas — The family of a missing 19-year-old Schertz man is desperately searching for answers after he left home for a jog Saturday evening and never returned.
Zacharias Stallings was last seen around 7 p.m. jogging in the Parklands Estates subdivision while his parents were preparing for a night out. When they returned home, they assumed he was in his room.
“We arrived back at the house Saturday night and suspected that the front door was unlocked, came to the assumption that Zach was in his room after a jog or, you know, sleeping,” his stepfather, Zachary Meeker, said.
It wasn’t until the following day around noon that his parents realized they hadn’t seen or heard from him.
“So we went up to his bedroom to check on him and realized he was not at the house,” his stepfather said.
Calls to Zacharias’ phone went straight to voicemail, and texts went undelivered—something his family says is highly unusual for him.
“We figured his phone was shut off or was dead, which is very, very unusual. He never has his phone off, so that really triggered us to think something was wrong,” his mother, Inez Meeker, said.
Zacharias, who has Asperger’s syndrome and is described by his family as high-functioning and intelligent, has never stayed away from home overnight without letting his parents know.
The family says a witness has come forward who may have seen Zacharias jogging between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Minutes later, the witness reported seeing him walking with an unidentified man.
“Then he saw him between five and 10 minutes later walking with an unidentified male,” said his mother. “This male was about 6 feet tall, had really blonde hair, like older.”
But his parents say the eyewitness’ account has only deepened their concern.
“We want to think the most positive outcome of this, but we’re still uncertain as to exactly what’s going on with Zach,” his father said. “We just pray and hope he’s safe and comes home.”
In the meantime, the family is distributing flyers and canvassing the neighborhood in hopes of finding any clues to Zacharias’ whereabouts.
“It’s very exhausting. We’ve been on foot handing out flyers everywhere in this neighborhood,” his mother said. “You can’t sleep at night. You’re wondering where he is.”
Zacharias’ family also says they have had to take time off from work to search for him, so to help they have started a GoFundMe. If you would like to help them, you can donate by clicking here.
Schertz police are asking residents in the Parklands Estates area and surrounding neighborhoods to check their home security footage for any sign of Zacharias, especially around 6 p.m. Saturday to Sunday morning.
They urge anyone with potential video or information to contact police directly—do not post it on social media.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Schertz Police Department at (210) 619-1200.