Gastonia teenager missing since Oct. 31

Luis Tario, 16, a senior at Ashbrook High School, told his family on Oct. 31 that he was going to visit a friend. He was supposed to return at 18.30

He never came home.

When they looked in his room, his parents and siblings found envelopes with their names on them. There were letters in the envelopes.

“He said he didn’t see any point in school, in graduating, in finding a job,” said his sister, Nataly Tario. “We are frantic and trying to find him.”

Gastonia Police are searching for Tario, whose family believes he is having a mental health crisis.

“Trying to hold on as a unit was devastating,” Nataly Tario said.

Luis Tario was about 6 feet tall with black hair and a slim, muscular build, said his father, Alfredo Tario.

“He’s very shy, very reserved and very quiet,” Alfredo Tario said.

He was driving a dark gray 2017 Nissan Rogue with tag number 3CH33RS.

Luis Tario is an honor student at Ashbrook and spends most of his time at home, work or school. His family noticed no signs that he was depressed or wanted to harm himself before he disappeared.

“So we are all quite surprised that this is happening now,” Alfredo Tario said.

Alfredo and his wife, Evelyn Tario, met with the parents of friends Luis said he visited. They told Tarios that Luis had no plans to visit that night.

“This is something he made up,” Alfredo Tario said.

Luis came out of his shell around her, his brother Noel Tario said.

“He tried to tell me from time to time, in the jokes he told and the things he did,” Noel Tario said. “I’m so sorry… for not reading the rest of the lines.”

His family said Luis Tario wrote in his letters that he might be heading to an area with higher altitudes, about an hour away from Gastonia.

Gastonia Police are asking anyone who sees Luis Tario to call the police department at 704-866-6702.

This article was first published in The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia teen missing since Halloween