Family searches for missing Carmel grad

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WISH) - A Carmel couple said it’s strange their son would just leave school without calling. So they have packed up and temporarily moved south to try and find him.

24-Hour News 8’s Daniel Miller traveled to Louisville to meet with the Compton family searching for the missing student.

The Compton family has been inside a Louisville hotel desperately awaiting any kind of news on their 18 year-old son. They’ve been in Louisville, Ky. since Oct. 31, and they said they plan to stay until he is found.

Andrew Compton is a freshman at Sullivan University and a 2010 graduate of Carmel High School. It’s been nearly two weeks since Andrew’s family has heard from him.

Inside the Candlewood Suites in Louisville, Angela and John Compton have the only table in the room covered up with laptop computers. They’ve even put up missing person’s flyers on the wall. They are leading their own search to find their son.

“It’s kind of become a command center if you will, trying to figure out what happen to our son,” Angela Compton, Andrew’s mother, said.

The command center is a place to take and make phone calls, and monitor Facebook and other websites while searching for clues.

“It’s really terrifying, can’t imagine,” Angela Compton said. “You know, I’ve seen it on TV, of what other parents have had to go through, and I had to turn the television off because I can’t imagine going through this. And here I am living it myself,” she said.

Derek Compton checked his bother’s e-mail and learned he met someone online.

“At that point, relief, because before that we didn’t know what had happened, where he’d went. At least we had our next step,” he said.

They even have surveillance video of Andrew leaving his dorm room.

Police say the person he met online was the last person to see him.

“And the person he left with does say he picked Andrew up from his dormitory,” Angela said.

That man, who has not been named a suspect, told Louisville Police Andrew left his home on foot later that night. Angela said something is not adding up.

“I’m not comfortable with it at all. I think we need proof of what he says to be true and we don’t have it,” she said.

The Compton family said they are working closely with the Louisville Police Department in the search. They have also teamed up with a national organization called Team Adam for Missing and Exploited Children. A representative is in Louisville with the family and plans to stay until Andrew Compton is found.