A nonverbal man who went missing from Silver Spring, Maryland, was found inside the Glenmont Metro station after his frantic family spent six days searching for him. He’s believed to have spent days undetected in what his father called a “back room” of the station.
Rashawn Williams, a 31-year-old with Down syndrome, was found inside the station on Thursday after his family begged for help finding him. A Metro officer found him, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said Friday morning.
Williams was hungry and dehydrated when he was found, his father, Jimmy Hall, told News4. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
“We never would have thought in a million days, a million years, that he was in a stationary area for six days and we were scouring the entire DMV and he was right there the whole time,” Hall said.
“There are no words that can describe how I feel. None,” he added, calling his son’s safe return a “blessing.”
Williams was startled to see his family at first but then began “jumping up and down and was happy to see us,” his father said.
“Hi, Daddy,” he was able to say.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Williams wasn’t found earlier or if Metro officials had ever searched the area.
"Where did the ball get dropped?" his father asked.
Williams smiled and posed for photos with his family outside the Metro station on Friday afternoon, after being released from the hospital. He was hungry and acted “like nothing ever happened,” his father said.
Metro supported an investigation by Montgomery County police and will review what happened, the general manager said.
“We’re just so happy that Rashawn has made his way home to his family. One of our officers found him. At this time, we’re going to do an investigation and see if there’s anything we could have improved and done better,” Clarke said.
Metro said in an update Friday evening that Williams was found “in the back of an emergency exit corridor that is not visible from the platform or the station manager kiosk." Williams' father believes he may have gotten inside and been able to figure out how to exit.
Montgomery County police released surveillance footage on Wednesday that showed Williams leaving the Glenmont station on Saturday, they said.
County police told the public at about 10:20 p.m. Thursday that Williams had been found “safe and unharmed” and did not immediately release details.
‘I don't know if someone has him’
Williams disappeared about seven miles from where he was found. He was staying at a Residence Inn on Plum Orchard Drive in the White Oak area with members of his group home. They were staying there after a fire at the facility in Rockville. He told caregivers he was going to the bathroom and then disappeared. He was later seen on surveillance video walking out of the hotel.
The caregiving company said they called Williams' family about an hour after he went missing, but Williams' father says he wasn't contacted for two hours. He was frantic with worry as the family scoured his possible route for days.
"I don't know if someone has him, or — because he has Down syndrome. He's nonverbal; he don't have any ID, or any identification, no cellphone,” Hall said.
Hall previously said his son rode on Metro's R2 bus route, which goes through Montgomery and Prince George's counties toward the Fort Totten rail station in D.C.
Hall is a Metrorail operator himself. He said multiple coworkers told him his son boarded a Red Line train at Fort Totten and rode it back and forth for several hours on Friday night until the train went out of service.
Metro workers at the Glenmont station told Hall they saw his son get off a train at the station on Friday night.
Hall said Friday that he believes Montgomery County police didn’t pursue the case aggressively or coordinate with other agencies with enough urgency. The investigation turned when the county police department’s special victims unit got involved, he said.
“When they took over, that’s when things started going into motion,” he said. “Prior to Tuesday, there was no progress.”
Hall called for better coordination among law enforcement agencies.
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Earlier this week, he wept as he pleaded for more help from Metro to find his son.
“It's like my son isn't important. Imagine he was a senator's son … or government. They'd have a helicopter. They'd have found him that night," he said.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
