by Jeroslyn JoVonn
July 8, 2025
A local family in Calera, Alabama is getting support in their search for a beloved patriarch who vanished shortly after arriving from Kenya.
A Kenyan family in Calera, Alabama, is receiving strong support from their local community as they search for their family patriarch, who went missing just days before his grandson’s graduation, a celebration he had traveled to attend.
Reuben Waithaka, 72, was last seen at a gas station he hitchhiked to one day after arriving in Calera to attend his grandson’s high school graduation, CNN reports. However, surveillance footage shows Waithaka waving at a store attendant before he went inside the restroom and out a back door, where he was never seen again.
“He just got here. And then he was gone,” Waithaka’s grandson, Byron Barua, 17, said.
It’s been seven weeks since the Kenyan tourist went missing. Despite extensive efforts, including missing person flyers, helicopters, drones, off-road vehicles, tracking dogs, and infrared heat-seeking cameras, police have yet to find any trace of him.
“Sometimes I regret why I asked my parents to come for my son’s graduation. I find myself wondering, ‘What would I have done differently? ’” Waithaka’s son, Willington Barua, said. “Maybe if I hadn’t invited them, my dad would still be with us.”
The family suspects Waithaka may have had undiagnosed dementia or another condition triggered by the stress of being away from home and the 18-hour journey from Kenya to Alabama. During the second leg of his trip, from Frankfurt to Atlanta, he became incoherent and agitated, requiring a flight attendant to assist his wife in keeping him seated.
Upon arriving in Alabama, Waithaka appeared confused and fell while trying to use an airport escalator the wrong way, injuring his knee. His limp from that fall is seen on gas station security footage. Afterward, Barua took his father to the ER, where a head CT scan and bloodwork came back normal.
After a nap and breakfast, Waithaka allegedly stepped outside, and his family hadn’t seen him since. He accepted two rides from motorists, with the last dropping him off at the gas station where he was last seen. A nearby resident later reported seeing someone matching Waithaka’s description enter a hunting club near the gas station. The woman told police he crawled under a gate and vanished into the woods.
Police have conducted multiple searches of the surrounding wooded areas and interviewed local residents several times. Investigators believe Waithaka may have caught another ride at the truck stop located behind the gas station, potentially leaving the area entirely.
Waithaka turned 73 on June 3. Byron graduated just days after his grandfather went missing, without him there to celebrate.
“It was tragic, but I tried not to let it get to me or bring me down all the way,” Byron said of his missing grandfather. “I pray for him to stay safe.”
Waithaka’s son, who owns a trucking company, says he posts flyers at every rest stop and truck stop he visits. Whenever he drives past a wooded area, he slows down, scanning the trees in hopes of spotting his father.
Every phone call brings a rush of anxiety and hope as he braces for the possibility of answers. Not knowing anything about his father’s whereabouts is the hardest part, he said.
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