Nashville father’s mysterious disappearance goes unsolved for 25 years
Posted: Jun 23, 2023 / 10:50 AM CDT
Updated: Jun 23, 2023 / 05:21 PM CDT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Exactly 25 years after he vanished, investigators are still unsure who was the last person to lay eyes on a young Nashville father.
Andre El was reported missing out of Nashville on Jan. 4, 1998, but according to Metro Nashville Police Cold Case Detective Matt Filter, the last time he spoke to his family was several months beforehand on June 23, 1997.
“We’re talking like six months after he was last seen, he was finally reported missing, so we were really behind the curve on this one from the get-go,” Filter said. “We really don’t have a whole lot of information.”
El’s father and mother had already passed away by the time he disappeared, so the only family he had left was an uncle in Pennsylvania, an aunt in Georgia and the mother of El’s young child, who also lived hundreds of miles away in Atlanta.
Filter said he’s occasionally worked cases where the missing person didn’t stay in close contact with anyone, so no one knew they were missing for several months. However, Filter called the time gap “unusual” based on a previous report that said El regularly called his family.
The only other explanation for the lengthy gap between El’s disappearance and the filing of the report may be more of a clerical issue, according to investigators.
“Back in the 90’s there was basically a requirement where you had to actually make the report in person because we needed a signature on the report in order to fulfill NCIC (National Crime Information Center) requirements,” Filter said. “So, with him living in Nashville, and the closest family living in Pennsylvania and Georgia, that could have been a reason.”
Filter said it was the mother of El’s child who drove from Atlanta to Nashville to report him missing. At the time, El lived at an apartment complex at 2621 Airpark Drive in East Nashville. It’s the same area where he is believed to have been last seen, but the details remain murky.
“I’m guessing that on June 23 he talked to somebody on the phone and that was the last time anybody had heard from him,” Filter said. “I’m not sure who last laid eyes on him or physically saw him.”
Detectives learned of a few people El was known to associate with in Nashville early on in the investigation, but Filter said there were still many roadblocks. In some instances, investigators only had a “street name” for the person.
“It looked like at least two or three of the people, the detective was never able to make contact with them and we still to this day aren’t sure who these people may have been,” Filter said.
Investigators believe El may have been involved in “criminal activity” that was possibly associated with his disappearance, making foul play “likely” in the case. However, the scarcity of tips and the time gap before the missing person’s report was filed has made the case difficult to solve.
“It looks like the last time anything new was developed in this case was maybe in 1999,” Filter said. “I know a detective here in the cold case unit reviewed over this case in 2016 or 2017 and didn’t uncover any new information or new leads to work on with it.”
Still, investigators are continuing to look for clues as to what happened to El. It’s possible that someone who lived in the same apartment complex in June 1997 or knew El back then may still have some information that could lead to a break in the case.
“Maybe there was something they witnessed or knew about him that we don’t know for some reason that might give us a lead of somewhere to look,” Filter said. “Otherwise, just the lack of information on this case, it really has stalled it out; and unfortunately stalled it out really early on in the investigation.”
El was 27 years old when he disappeared and would be 53 years old if he is still alive today. When he was last seen, El was 6 feet tall, weighed about 220 pounds and had black hair and brown eyes. He could have a mustache, beard or a goatee.
Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to contact the
Metro Nashville Police Department’s Cold Case Unit at
615-862-7329. Anonymous tips can also be shared by calling the police department’s
Crime Stoppers Division at
615-74-CRIME (615-742-7463).
