Search under way for missing autistic teen

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A local autistic teenager has been missing for many hours.

Tuesday, friends had gathered at a Marsh in Lawrence to search for him and police had given up their search.

An urban search and rescue unit comprised of officers from Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indianapolis Fire Department and Wayne Township firefighters searched the Geist area from midnight Monday through Tuesday morning.

Additional personnel from the Lawrence Fire Department joined in the search around 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Police said 19-year-old Hunter Valant was last seen near 75th Street and Oaklandon Road.  His family says he tried to purchase food at Subway with coupons before he vanished. The staff at Subway turned him away. But somehow, Hunter Valant managed to snag four boxes of pizza from a neighboring Pappa John’s.

The family says volunteers located pizza boxes in a wooded area near Oaklandon and 75th Street. Plus, they found boxes with the name Hunter inside an abandoned van.

The teen’s step-mother said someone found Hunter’s socks and shoes near 79th and Oaklandon.

“We need prayers,” Sherry Minkis said. “Every place we thought he was hiding we’ve looked and we have not found him.”

Police said 19-year-old Hunter Valant was last seen near 75th Street and Oaklandon Road.

Friends will gather Sunrise at Geist Methodist church,7551 Oaklandon Road, to search Wednesday morning at 8 a.m.

The public in invited to help. The family has created a Facebook page called Help Us Find Hunter for updates.

He is described as 5-foot-9, 140 pounds, bald, with blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, a gray shirt. and maroon sweat pants. Anyone with information should call 911 for an immediate response.