NY NY - William Gu, 22, Brooklyn, 7 March 2013

William Gu, 22yo, student at CUNY living in New York and Perth Amboy, last seen in Brooklyn on March 7th, missed a date to meet a friend on the same day. The car he was reportedly driving, a 1998 Silver Lexus, was found abandoned in front of the Somerset Diner in the Somerset section of Franklin, NJ. The car belongs to his roommate.

No new leads in search for missing Perth Amboy man, police say.

FRANKLIN — Police say they have no new leads or witnesses to help them search for a 22-year-old Perth Amboy man who has been missing for a week.

Wednesday afternoon, Perth Amboy Police — with the help of state police, state park police and Franklin Township Police — conducted a search in Franklin for William Gu, a CUNY student who lives in New York and Perth Amboy, and was last seen March 7 in Brooklyn.

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Personally, I'm not convinced that William was actually driving the Lexus, the roommate may have just passed the buck since it had apparently been in an accident, but from the Somerset Diner it's about a 30-45 minute walk to the New Brunswick train station which would have taken Gu back home, or, if he was depressed, a similar length walk to several bridges spanning the Raritan River. The section of Franklin the car was found in isn't at all rough, but traffic is heavy.

Information from the missing poster on the Facebook page contradicts the news articles I've read, so I thought I'd make it a separate post.

According to the missing poster, William Gu was supposed to meet a friend in Rutgers University, NOT Staten Island. His car was found at 7:30 pm crashed into a sign on the lawn in front of the diner with his keys and cell phone inside. No mention is made that his roommate actually owned the car.

MOO: it is a simple walk from the Somerset Diner to Rutgers U with sidewalks the whole way down, or William might have called his friend for a pickup but left the phone behind. What I find VERY hard to believe is that no one in the Somerset Diner noticed the accident happening. Somerset Diner is crowded all night long with college students sitting in window booths who could have easily seen an accident happening, not to mention that police, firefighters and EMTs frequent the restaurant as well.

NouveauPink said:

MOO: it is a simple walk from the Somerset Diner to Rutgers U with sidewalks the whole way down, or William might have called his friend for a pickup but left the phone behind. What I find VERY hard to believe is that no one in the Somerset Diner noticed the accident happening. Somerset Diner is crowded all night long with college students sitting in window booths who could have easily seen an accident happening, not to mention that police, firefighters and EMTs frequent the restaurant as well.

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My husband points out that Gu could not have been heading towards New Brunswick/Rutgers University at the time the car crashed into the signpost on the Somerset Diner lawn - there's a concrete divider down the middle of the Easton Ave and the Somerset Diner is on the side heading towards Bound Brook, not New Brunswick. There is an intersection near there, so he could have been in a spectacular accident involving a U turn or the jug handle if he was unfamiliar with the area and going in the wrong direction, but no one saw it and neither did the surveillance cameras at the intersection.

Could he have actually been planning to meet his RU friend at the Somerset Diner?

No new lead in search for missing Perth Amboy man, police say

By Meghan D. Hodgin/NJ.com
on March 14, 2013 at 11:00 AM, updated March 14, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Police previously told NJ.com that Gu was supposed to meet a friend in Staten Island March 7, but never showed up.


Gu suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2011 car crash, and has "depression, paranoia and other psychotic behaviors, so there is increased concern for his safety," Perth Amboy police previously said.


He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a black North Face jacket. He is 5 feet and 11 inches tall and weighs about 145 pounds, police said.


Anyone with information can call Det. Gilberto Simao of the Perth Amboy Police Department at 732-324-3813, New Jersey State Police at 800-709-7090 or the New York Police Department at 718-946-3311

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This article was published a few days earlier than the one above.

Perth Amboy police searching for missing city man

By Brian Amaral/NJ.com
on March 11, 2013 at 11:17 PM, updated March 11, 2013 at 11:19 PM

Police here are searching for a man who has been missing since last week. William Gu, a 22-year-old CUNY student who lives in New York and Perth Amboy, was last seen on March 7 in Brooklyn. He was supposed to meet a friend in Staten Island but never showed up, and the car he was driving was found abandoned in Somerset at the Somerset Diner on Easton Avenue.

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Facebook generates few leads in search for Perth Amboy man missing for two months

By Anthony G. Attrino/NJ.com
on May 09, 2013 at 7:20 AM, updated May 09, 2013 at 7:28 AM

PERTH AMBOY &#8211; Friends of a man who mysteriously went missing following a car accident two months ago haven&#8217;t given up on him.

While a physical search by police has ended, investigators have said they will continue to check with friends and family members.

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Poor guy. Here's the FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missing-Person-William-Gu/318185898284032

New York State Missing Persons

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...236.1073741829.318185898284032&type=1&theater

IMO: I think we can rule out that he called anyone for a pickup because his phone was found in the car and the police could/would have already checked for the last numbers called, so the next most likely scenario is that he decided to walk somewhere from the Somerset Diner.

Since Franklin was searched and I can't think of anywhere anyone would think to walk from the Somerset Diner (there's a few shopping centers), my best guess is that he decided to walk back towards New Brunswick and the train station if he decided to abandon the vehicle. If he'd taken the easy route down Easton Ave, I'd have thought he'd arrive without incident or he might have been disoriented and hit by a car (it was dark, he was wearing dark clothes) then ended up in a hospital, which has presumably been checked.

The other possibility my husband and I came up with is that he bushwhacked straight behind the Somerset Diner to attempt to walk along the canal back toward New Brunswick. There is no path on that side, but many people assume that there is. Furthermore, disoriented people just tend to do that (both of us have attempted it before, not that we were disoriented at the time, we were being lazy and trying to avoid hiking a mile or more to a bridge that goes to the tow path, from the Somerset Diner it would have been a long walk to get to a bridge over the canal).

Assuming he tried to walk along the canal, which I don't think is terribly likely and assumes some knowledge of the area, if he succumbed to the cold or injuries or simply fell into the canal on that side, it would be very hard for someone from the road or from the tow path on the far side of the canal to spot him. A wet, black North Face jacket would look like a garbage bag. Sadly there's plenty of litter there.

It's a long shot, but I think it might be worth a hike of the canal path with some birding glasses to get a better look at the far side. If the weather clears up we'll try it this week.

Maybe he hid somewhere and got stuck?? hospitals were checked??

http://njtoday.net/2013/03/11/perth-amboy-police-seek-missing-man/


According to police, Gu suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 2011 and as a result suffers from depression, paranoia and other psychotic behaviors so there is increased concern for his safety. Authorities said that Gu has no history of violence but is afraid of the police. According to his family, he hides when he is scared.

JerseyGirl said:

Maybe he hid somewhere and got stuck?? hospitals were checked??

http://njtoday.net/2013/03/11/perth-amboy-police-seek-missing-man/


According to police, Gu suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 2011 and as a result suffers from depression, paranoia and other psychotic behaviors so there is increased concern for his safety. Authorities said that Gu has no history of violence but is afraid of the police. According to his family, he hides when he is scared.

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That's a new one to me. Well, it is very thickly overgrown by Somerset Diner (less so in March) so if he ran for the nearest hiding spot, there's fencing around some dumpsters backing up into this wooded area which eventually backs up to the canal. This strengthens the possibility to me that he went towards the canal, it's the only place to hide, otherwise he's very exposed on Easton Ave. Unfortunately, the Delaware-Raritan Canal has a habit of collecting victims and it would be trivially easy to fall in if someone tried to follow it on the Easton Ave side - there's no path.

I've heard nothing about a search of the canal area yet. A real search would probably have to be made by people searching from the water, not from the tow path on the far side.

Does it make any sense that he might have gone back to New Brunswick/Rutgers and is still there? There are homeless shelters and soup kitchens where posters could be put up.

Bumping this.

I've chatted a bit with the friends/family behind the Facebook page. Apparently the hospitals, the canal, and the river have been searched. I'm stumped for places he could be, assuming he wasn't in one of these places and overlooked.

Where else could he be? I assume he's not in hiding any longer.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gu_william.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/21537/
Status Missing
First name William
Middle name
Last name Gu
Nickname/Alias
Date last seen March 07, 2013 00:00
Date entered 08/20/2013
Age last seen 22 to years old
Age now 24 years old
Race Asian or Pacific Islander
Ethnicity Other
Sex Male
Height (inches) 71.0
Weight (pounds) 160.0
Dental Status: Dental information / charting is currently not available
DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete
Fingerprint Information Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available

Bump - may i make some points, from a concerned relative

NouveauPink said:

Personally, I'm not convinced that William was actually driving the Lexus, the roommate may have just passed the buck since it had apparently been in an accident, but from the Somerset Diner it's about a 30-45 minute walk to the New Brunswick train station which would have taken Gu back home, or, if he was depressed, a similar length walk to several bridges spanning the Raritan River. The section of Franklin the car was found in isn't at all rough, but traffic is heavy.

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William's roommate, Avi Scheinberg, notified immediate family shortly after William's disappearance. Avi knew whereabouts and details of the entire incident precisely.

JerseyGirl said:

Maybe he hid somewhere and got stuck?? hospitals were checked??

http://njtoday.net/2013/03/11/perth-amboy-police-seek-missing-man/


According to police, Gu suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident in 2011 and as a result suffers from depression, paranoia and other psychotic behaviors so there is increased concern for his safety. Authorities said that Gu has no history of violence but is afraid of the police. According to his family, he hides when he is scared.

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No John Doe's found at any hospitals in that district at the time. William's 2011 accident involved a mild concussion and a broken femur bone, which accounts for the permanent scar on his left outer thigh. His brain was unharmed and he did not experience any psychotic behaviors.

NouveauPink said:

Where else could he be? I assume he's not in hiding any longer.

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In our prayers. The NJPD have exhausted their efforts. I will bring updates, with hope.

Thank you all for your compassion and concern.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBWSfo5EZZA

thelagger,

:welcome5:

I'm interested in the conflicting information regarding William's 2011 accident. "His brain was unharmed and he did not experience any psychotic behaviors." is the opposite of what was reported by the media. Is this difference relevant? I wonder what/who is the source of the misinformation?

2 years today.

https://www.facebook.com/3181858982...8185898284032/324734177629204/?type=3&theater

William is still missing: William Gu – The Charley Project
I read something about a FB group for him his family made to search for him, but in searching for it, I cannot find it.