Family photo
(ENLARGE)
Gary Chronister shown in September 2003 photo of troop homecoming from Iraq at Fort Stewart. He is holding his nieces and standing with his sister, Angela Riley.
Mom searching for missing veteran
By YOLANDA RODRIGUEZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/21/07
The caller identification on Sheryl Futrell's phone said the caller was her son, Gary Chronister, using his cell phone. It was 4:48 p.m. on Nov. 10.
When she answered the phone, there was no voice on the other end. All she heard were "night sounds," Futrell said on Wednesday from her home in the Macon area.
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The call lasted six minutes. Futrell found out later the call bounced off a cell tower near Frey Elementary School on Mars Hill Road.
The last clue to his whereabouts came Monday night when Chronister's 10-year-old green Ford Ranger was found at a QuikTrip gas station on Cobb Parkway in Acworth, near where she used to live and not too far from her daughter's home.
Now Futrell, 53, is hoping that someone will spot her son, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and help bring him home. He has a history of mental illness.
Chronister, 33, returned from Iraq in September 2003. But shortly after, his mental health began deteriorating.
Before Iraq he was "a happy-go-lucky, fun guy. He was very engaged with his nieces and nephews," she said
After Iraq, he withdrew more and more. Lately he has been obsessed with "cleansing the toxins from his body. He felt the toxins caused his mental illness," Futrell said.
She believes her son left the apartment they share on Lake Tobesofkee and headed straight up I-75 to Cobb County, an area he knows well.
She asks anyone who sees him to call police or the Bibb County Sheriff's Office at 478-746-9441.
If Chronister is found in the metro Atlanta area, he should be taken to the emergency room of the Atlanta VA Medical Center, 1670 Clairmont Rd., in Decatur.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/11/21/vet_1122.html
Sheri (and Angela and Tina), I pray for your Gary everyday. I hope he will soon find the help he needs. Stay strong for each other and know that many of us are in your corner. You are not alone.
ReplyDeleteThank you for offering prayers for him as well as his family. I'm sure no one but the Lord knows what kind of pain they are in. Please keep all of them in your prayers as well. I have never seen so many hurting this much.
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