Refocusing search for missing Arlington 21-year-old

Name: The family of a missing Arlington man want to refocus on finding him
Uploaded: 2025-04-14T17:52:13-07:00
Description: It's been two weeks since anyone has seen Jonathan Hoang from Arlington. Search and rescue teams poured in more than 4,000 hours, using drones, canines, and foot crews, but found no sign of him. Since then, family and neighbors say the investigation has been clouded by misunderstandings, miscommunication, and misinformation.

The family of a missing Arlington man want to refocus on finding him

It's been two weeks since anyone has seen Jonathan Hoang from Arlington. Search and rescue teams poured in more than 4,000 hours, using drones, canines, and foot crews, but found no sign of him. Since then, family and neighbors say the investigation has been clouded by misunderstandings, miscommunication, and misinformation.

SEATTLE - It's been two weeks since anyone has seen Jonathan Hoang from Arlington.

Search and rescue teams poured in more than 4,000 hours, using drones, canines, and foot crews, but found no sign of him. Since then, family and neighbors say the investigation has been clouded by misunderstandings, miscommunication, and misinformation.

Both the family and the sheriff’s office now say that they want to refocus and bring back the focus on finding Jonathan.

Over the weekend, family, friends and neighbors of Jonathan gathered in Arlington calling for action. The 21-year-old, who has autism, has been missing since March 30. His family said their concern and frustration over how the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has handled the investigation has grown with each day.

What they're saying:

"We’ve lost confidence and trust in Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office that they’re going to do their due diligence," Irene Pfister, Jonathan’s sister, said.

She explained that those concerns stemmed from interactions with the sheriff’s office telling her family that her brother’s case was not a priority, but also detectives refusing help from a private investigator they hired and not issuing an endangered missing person’s alert sooner.

"There’s a lot of misinformation, misunderstanding," Courtney O’ Keefe, Director of Communications and Public Information Officer for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office said. She added some of those misunderstandings have stemmed from the language used. "For example, in one of our releases it says the search had been suspended and on social media that was misunderstood that we were stopping searching for Jonathan and that is not what that meant," O’Keefe said.

As for the endangered missing person’s alert, she went on to say that it was issued through the Washington State Patrol and because the alert is essentially another flyer that is shared with media partners and the community and posted on social media, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately issue one since they had already taken those actions on the first day that Jonathan went missing. He was also entered into the national law enforcement database as missing, according to O’Keefe.

What's next:

Both sides now want to bring the focus back on finding Jonathan. "We all have the same goal here, and we all want to bring Jonathan home," O’Keefe said.

"I think people keep thinking maybe he did walk off, or maybe he did try to start a new life, but my brother, he was capable, but he couldn’t even remember his own phone number or address. He couldn’t leave without support or help," Pfister said.

She revealed to FOX 13, there are now plans in the works to put together a multi-jurisdictional task force. Arlington Police, Washington State Patrol, and someone with the FBI have all offered to help, according to Pfister.

"It feels so affirming to hear that and to know there are people that want to help us find him, and they’re going to try and do it quickly and devote as much time as possible to do that," she said.

For Jonathan’s family, time is of the essence and with each day that passes, it’s another day without their loved one. "It’s that feeling like I’m falling, and I can’t catch myself. The uncertainty is crushing, to not know where he is and if he’s okay," Pfister said.

The sheriff’s office told FOX 13, they are following up on all leads, and while they had numerous tips called in, there have been no public sightings of him.

Jonathan’s family has also hired a private investigator in hopes of finding clues as to what happened to him.

Pfister hopes some kind of change will come out of this, and she believes more legislation is needed to protect this vulnerable population that is too old for an Amber Alert, but too young for a Silver Alert.

The Source: Information for this article comes from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting.