Photos: (from left to right) Joshua Hannaford, Travis Brown, John Cole
An Ozark County resident who had been missing for almost four months has been located safe.
The Ozark County Times reports Joshua Hannaford of Gainesville was found in Springfield on New Year’s Day. Hannaford was reported missing Sept. 14 last year.
Meanwhile, two other Ozark County men who haven’t been seen since 2019 are still listed as missing.
Fifty-three-year-old Travis Lee Brown was last seen around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019, walking on Missouri Highway 5 north of Gainesville.
Authorities have said Brown has some ties to the West Plains and Branson areas, as well as to Florida. It is unknown which direction Brown may have been traveling.
Ozark County Sheriff’s Office call logs show that Brown’s father, Ralph Brown, reported his son missing on Dec. 15, 2019.
The second missing Ozark County man, 46-year-old John Edward Cole of the Big Creek area west of Theodosia in Taney County, was last seen in May 2019. Cole’s wife, Angela, reported him missing at that time.
He was known to walk far distances and be out of contact with his family for lengths of time, his wife told the Times shortly after Brown went missing, but she says he has never been out of contact for more than a few months.
The Coles live in Taney County just past the Ozark County line, so the Taney County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation.
According to Angela Cole, her husband is a severe diabetic and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
He was last seen May 22, 2019, walking on County Road 644 (Stehle Road) wearing a light gray shirt, blue jeans, black lace-up boots, a wallet with a chain and a ball cap. He is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 163 pounds with blue eyes and brownish gray hair. The tip of his left thumb is missing.
“Our son dropped him off at his cousin’s house in Ocie,” Angela told the Times. “That was the last time any of us, his immediate family, saw him. A neighbor saw him walking on the Big Creek Bridge after that. The cousin whose house he went to said his brother was the last one to see him, and that was on Stehle Road.”
Anyone with information about Brown should call the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at (417) 679-4633. Information about Cole may also be reported to the Taney County Sheriff at (417) 546-7250.
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