Woman appeals for help to find her son, missing from his Cahokia home since Nov. 1
Debra Custer is concerned that she and her family haven’t heard from her son, Omar Custer, since Nov. 1. She said being out of touch with his family for so long - more than three months at this point - and not checking in is highly unusual behavior for her son.
Custer’s family reported the 45-year-old Cahokia man missing to police and is appealing to the public for help in finding him.
Debra Custer said she doesn’t know of anyone who would want to hurt her son.
“If anybody has seen him or knows anything at all about where he is, please let the police know,” she said.
Custer lives at 3602 Fallings Springs Road, Apt. 8 in Cahokia. Police Capt. Dennis Plew said police are still searching for him.
Tony Tomlinson, a patrolman from Lebanon, is a friend of the family. He confirmed he is working to help find Custer.
Tomlinson said police have met with the family and know “they are desperate for someone to step up with some information that will help us find their family member.”
Debra Custer said she and her sister went to Omar Custer’s Cahokia home to visit him on Nov. 1.
“We laughed and talked. We stayed about 30 minutes. It doesn’t make sense to us that he has not called anyone in the family,” Debra Custer said.
Custer said her son kept to himself.
Asked whether her son has ever just walked away and cut himself completely off from his family, Custer responded by saying there have been times when they wouldn’t see or talk with Custer, but they didn’t think anything was wrong. “He’s a grown man,” she said.
And, he always came back home, she said. Custer said the family is close.
Custer is concerned in this instance because of the amount of time it has been and no family has heard from him.
“Somebody knows something. Somebody saw something. Think about if it were your child, you would want any information out there to be told to the police. Help my family find our loved one,” Custer said.
Custer said her life and that of the family has a “big void” in it because one of her children is missing.
“Just not knowing anything is tearing the whole family apart,” she said.
Brandon Martin, Omar Custer’s younger brother, said surveillance video shows him leaving home but not the direction he was heading.
.“It’s just not like him to walk off and not let somebody know. He left his door unlocked and keys on the table,” Martin said.
Martin said his brother did not have any bad vices. “He would drink, but he wasn’t into clubs or hanging out. He was a loner ,” Martin said.
Martin said the family is hopeful that people in the community will step up and work with the police to help bring Custer home. “We’re not going to give up until we find him,” Martin said.
“We don’t have any leads,” he said. “We don’t know where to look. It’s like we’re at dead end. We’ve exhausted all of our leads. We’re not giving up. We are optimistic that we will find him.
Martin said his brother is a good person and a great father to his son and daughter. He said he loves dogs and has a bulldog tattoo on his left forearm.
Custer is described as “bald with medium dark skin, mustache and chin hair”. He is about 6-feet tall and weighs 190-200 pounds.
Anyone with any information on Custer is urged to call the Cahokia Police Department at 337-9505 or Crime stopper at 1-8-371-TIPS
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
