Found Deceased TX - Rodrick Cassell, 24, Houston, 29 Aug 2014 *Arrest*

The family of a Marine combat veteran from Houston missing since late August appealed to the public on Wednesday for helping finding their loved one. Rodrick Darnell Cassell, 24, has not been seen since the early hours of Aug. 29. According to Houston police Cassell told his girlfriend just after midnight that he was going to meet friends in the 11900 block of Hunkler Drive in Southeast Houston near Pearland. After a few hours of not hearing from him his girlfriend alerted family members and later police. HPD's missing persons unit worked the case for a month before homicide took it on. Cassell was driving a 2007 black Toyota Camry with Texas license plates number CTS-3800 when he went missing nearly three months ago. The car was owned by his mother, Yolanda Broussard. She spoke at a Wednesday morning press conference appealing for any information on her son's whereabouts. The car was equipped with LoJack, a vehicle recovery system. It was activated when he went missing, but there have been no hits on the vehicle.

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"This is totally out of character for him," Broussard said Wednesday. Cassell is one of 10 siblings, the baby of the bunch. As the holiday season approaches his family would like to have him back home and has offered up a reward. She describes her son as a witty, loving young man. For him to be out of touch with family this long is troublesome. The day before he went missing he had been at a family function and according to Broussard her and her son had had a great conversation. "The last thing he told me was that he loved me and that he was going home," Broussard said. His sister, Dykeba Frank, said he was recently in her wedding. In the picture she shared of him from the wedding he looked to be the life of the party.

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Friends told Houston police Cassell left their address to return to his home at about 12:15 a.m. According to officers, Cassell's girlfriend did not hear from him for several hours, and neither she nor family members were able to reach him by phone.

"When he left the house he told his girlfriend he was leaving and he was going to meet with a friend, and we never heard from him again. He didn't come home," said his sister, Dykeba Frank.

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His car was equipped with LoJack, a vehicle recovery system. It was activated when he went missing, but there have been no hits on the vehicle.

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AzPistonsGirl said:

and he's an older (than teen) black male, so sadly, he just won't garner the same attention as others who go missing in these circumstances....

If Lojack is not getting any "hits" - what does that mean? The car HAS to be somewhere, right? Perhaps submerged so not able to communicate with LoJack?

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There's an ongoing effort to remove more than a hundred vehicles submerged in Houston's bayous which are popular dumping grounds for criminals... Some families are also hoping for closure in finding their missing loved ones.

Twenty-four-year-old Rodrick Cassel is a decorated Marine who served in Afghanistan. He went missing from Houston on August 29th. His mother Yolanda Broussard said, "We've searched everywhere for my son." She added, "They've never found the car or my son."

Her fear? Both are in Sims Bayou.

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Harris County court documents show a man has been charged in the shooting death of a Marine who was reported missing in late 2014.

Devante Malone, whose photo has not been released, is charged with murder in the death of former Marine Rodrick Cassell.

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steelman said:

Right now they aren't saying exactly where he or his car were found, I wonder why they'd keep that quiet ??

This guy vanishes without a trace for over a year, and now they are playing coy with information about what happened to him and where it happened.

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