KIRKLAND, Wash. — At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 30, exactly one year to the hour that he was last seen in person at his Arlington home, Jonathan Hoang’s community came together to honor and support the continued search for him.
People gathered for an evening of reflection at a candlelight vigil at Juanita Beach Park in Kirkland, holding Jonathan and the Hoang family in their hearts as they continue to search for answers.
Jonathan’s family believes he was last spotted on a Ring doorbell camera in a neighborhood near Juanita Beach Park, nearly 40 miles from home, in June of last year.
“Once we saw the video, we knew right away from the way he carried himself, the way he walked, his mannerisms, his verbal stim, that it was definitely Jonathan. So we wanted to hold the vigil here today because we feel closest to him here, this is where he was last seen, this is where he last walked on the street, so we felt that, you know, maybe we can be in the same place he was,” said Jonathan’s father, Thao Hoang, on the first anniversary of his son’s disappearance.
Since then, there haven’t been any reported sightings of Jonathan, but the search never stopped.
Though Jonathan has autism and the family says he would struggle with returning home on his own, a missing persons alert didn’t go out until five days after he disappeared.
Lake Washington High School students spent months pushing for change after Jonathan’s case, even going to Olympia to testify in support of Senate Bill 6070, also known as the Purple Alert Bill, which would have expanded the current missing persons advisory to include those with cognitive disabilities.
“It’s kind of shameful that we don’t have something in place already to help these people,” said one student, with another adding, “I think that it’s really sad what happened with Jonathan, and we can’t change the past in all those previous cases, but we can definitely change the future.”
The bill advanced out of committee, but with just 60 days in this year’s session, state lawmakers failed to move it past the Senate floor.
A $100,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to his recovery. You can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or visit FindJonathanHoang.com
Anyone who sees Jonathan is asked to call 911 immediately.
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