Family and friends of Rev. Warren Beard, a cherished father of five, Sunday school teacher, and assistant pastor at New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, are urgently appealing to the public for help in locating him. Beard vanished over a week ago after visiting friends in Joliet, leaving no trace.
“We are all hurting right now because we know that Rev. Warren Beard is not someone who would just disappear without saying a word to his family,” stated his aunt, Theresa Boss-French, at a press conference reported by the Chicago Sun Times. She emphasized that the family is “very wary and concerned for his safety.”
Information released by the Chicago Police Department said Beard was last seen on the night of July 2 at around 9 p.m., as he left the gathering of friends in Joliet.
Investigators told the pastor’s family that his black 2023 Honda HR-V with Illinois tag DY20511 was later spotted by a plate-reader at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Larkin Avenue about 10:30 p.m. on July 2.
Since then, Beard’s family and friends haven’t seen or heard from him. The pastor, who has multiple tattoos and a pierced left ear, was last seen wearing a white button-up short-sleeve shirt, with light blue and navy-blue polka dots, navy-blue pants, and black Cole Hann laced-up shoes. The Chicago PD is asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact them at (312) 747-8380 or call 911.
New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church’s senior pastor, Chenier A. Alston, told reporters that Sunday was difficult for him without his assistant pastor.
“Sunday was the hardest day I had to preach here … because I had to walk from my office into this church without the man that always stood behind me or beside me,” Alston said while noting the church will host a prayer meeting for Beard at 7 p.m. Thursday.
“All we’re asking is if you know anything, anything, please send an anonymous tip to the police department. … Send up a smoke signal. We just want to bring him home to us.”
Beard has served as assistant pastor of the church located at 1625 W. 75th Place for the last six years. He also works as a director at Preservation of Affordable Housing Communities, the Chicago Sun Times said.
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