MANHUNT SEEKS BOY
By
JOHN MAJESKI
STAFF WRITER
jmajeski@thnt.com
SAYREVILLE
— A missing 10-year-old Parlin boy upset about his school progress report set off a
massive search yesterday involving police dogs and several hundred people after he
apparently ran away from home Monday night.
Manny Vargas, a Sayreville Upper Elementary School pupil, was reported missing around
7:30 p.m. Monday by his family, authorities said. The youth had been seen an hour
earlier in his room, authorities said, but apparently left through a window in the
family's Thompson Place home.
While several hundred emergency-response workers continued to search into the evening
yesterday, the boy's visibly shaken parents, Manuel and Dawn Vargas, pleaded for
their boy to return home during a brief news conference at the Sayreville Police
Department.
"If you're out there, we're not mad at you," said Manny's father. "We want you to
come home."
"We miss him, love him," Manny's mom said in between sobs. "Please come home safe."
The couple said running away is not like Manny, who, they said, is "very responsible"
and is an honor roll student and athlete.
"He was upset about getting the school progress report . . . and he took off and
ran," Manuel Vargas said.
A short distance away on Washington Road, authorities headquartered the search effort
at the Sayreville Emergency Squad. Emergency-response officials from borough,
regional, county and state agencies combed the woods near the family's home and
elsewhere in the borough. State Police K-9 units joined in while at least one
helicopter searched from the sky.
Yellow school buses from the Sayreville school district ferried first aiders,
firefighters, police, state Department of Corrections and other emergency-response
officials to numerous sections of Sayreville. Borough police said a smaller search
with rescue dogs was held Monday night with assistance from the Union County
Sheriff's Department and Manalapan Police Department.
Vargas' neighbors, Reno Mastrocola and wife Cyndi Laughlin, were at home yesterday
afternoon but said they had been out looking for Manny earlier in the day and late
Monday night.
"It's been pretty devastating," Mastrocola said of the incident. "We're hoping
(Manny) is holed up with a friend."
State Police K-9 handlers and their dogs disappeared into the woods behind Sayreville
War Memorial High School at one point. Nearby, youth soccer games went on unaffected.
The search seemed to be taking its toll on some.
"Tiring, frustrating — pick your adjective," Sayreville patrolman Scott Poetsch said
when asked about the massive search. "I was here until 2 (a.m.) this morning . . . my
teeth were chattering. But a 10-year-old boy is missing."
Poetsch, patrolling on a red police ATV, said searching can be emotional. "I try not
to think about it," he said. "I got two kids myself."
"We've been calling his name out," said Department of Corrections Sgt. Richard
Christiansen, working with more than a dozen fellow DOC officials.
Sayreville police detective Kenneth Kelly said a number of emergency-response
searchers yesterday were volunteering their time. He was unable to say whether others
were being paid or assisting for free. Kelly said there has not been such a search in
the borough in at least 10 years.
It was undetermined at press time whether the operation would continue into this
morning.
"We have tons of people out looking," Dr. Frank Alfano, Sayreville superintendent of
schools, said yesterday afternoon. "Keep your fingers crossed and keep praying."
Alfano said PTO members were looking for the boy. Teachers who live locally were also
about to join the effort to find Manny.
Contributing:
Staff writer
Ken Serrano
John Majeski:
(732) 565-7260;
jmajeski@thnt.com