by JAMES S. KIM
A 19-year-old Korean American student from the University of Illinois has been found and reunited with his family after disappearing on Saturday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Chicago police said he had been located and was back with his family, but they did not release further details.
Hye Min Choi, who also goes by Joseph, went missing on Saturday when he disappeared after checking in his baggage at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where he was supposed to board a flight in the late afternoon. He had just finished his first year at the university, but he never arrived at home in North Carolina on the 10:30 p.m. flight.
“Everybody came out but he didn’t come out,” Juheekim Choi, the student’s mother, told NBC Chicago. “I grab the crew and said my son is in there, she said nobody is there.”
Choi checked in his luggage at 4:49 p.m. on Saturday with United Airlines. He called his father shortly after, saying that he was hungry. That was the last time his family heard from him, and while his luggage arrived in Greensboro, authorities said he never boarded the plane. United Airlines also stated Choi did not re-book another flight.
Chicago police issued an alert on Monday, asking the public for help in locating him, but they did not believe any criminality was involved. An officer said that Choi had not been doing well in school, but did not elaborate further.
Choi had just turned 19 on Sunday, and his family had apparently been planning a birthday party for him. His mother said Choi, a mechanical engineering major on a full scholarship, had been receiving good grades, contrary to the officer’s statements.
Photo via Chicago Police
