Missing O'Fallon man's coworkers travel to Arkansas to join search

O'Fallon residents joined in the ongoing search Monday for an O'Fallon man who went missing Saturday night in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Brennen Willis, 28, was last seen Saturday night when he left the hotel he and his family were staying at to go for a jog. He and his family were in town for a wedding, according to his family.

Willis, who goes by Bryn, has worked for the O'Fallon Parks and Recreation Department on and off since 2009, Mary Jeanne Hutchison, director of the department, said.

Hutchison said the rec supervisor and other workers traveled to Little Rock on Sunday to help search for Willis. They joined search parties Monday morning to look for him, according to the Facebook page "Missing - Bring Bryn Willis Home."

As of 9 a.m. Monday, there was no new information about Willis' whereabouts.

Meghan Jamison, a friend of the family, said they have four search teams in the area looking for Willis and were meeting with a detective Monday afternoon. She said Mark Morton, O'Fallon Ward 4 alderman, was also in Little Rock to help with the search for Willis, who is one of his good friends.

"We have some people offering to drive down today. If you know anybody who wants to come down, one person is bringing a Traverse (SUV) and she's offering to take anyone down who wants to go," she said.

Jamison said they also were in touch with a search dog association and people offering to fly drones through the area to search for Willis. They were also working to get security footage from stores in the area.

In an interview with Fox 16 news in Little Rock, Willis' mother, Susan Willis, said they spent all day Sunday looking for her son.

"I'm scared out of my mind," she said in the interview. "Something is wrong. He would never just leave or do anything. He'd want to be with us."

Rick Willis, Brennen Willis' brother, said his brother went on a run after the wedding to "relieve some stress."

Susan Willis called her son about 11:30 p.m. to check on him, according to Fox 16.

"I said, 'are you okay?' He said, 'yes, I'm running.' And it sounded like he was running," Susan said in the interview.

Hutchison said Willis is helpful and a good employee at the department.

"He's a really good young adult," she said. "He does whatever needs to be done. He wouldn't be here if he wasn't a good employee."

Willis left the Courtyard Hotel downtown to go for a jog at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. He posted a story on Snapchat about an hour later from the Robinson Center Auditorium and hadn't been heard from since then. A missing-person report was filed with the Little Rock Police Department.

He was last seen wearing green athletic shorts, an orange T-shirt, black socks and gray running shoes. He is 6 feet tall, 170 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.

The Little Rock Police Department did not immediately respond for comment.

This story was originally published May 21, 2018 at 10:58 AM with the headline "Missing O'Fallon man's coworkers travel to Arkansas to join search."