Family of Cincinnati man who vanished 5 years ago vows to continue search

CINCINNATI (FOX19) - A family is searching for answers five years after their loved one mysteriously disappeared.

Joshua Wright, who would now be 36, was last seen Feb. 2, 2018 at the intersection of Moosewood Avenue and Bowling Green Court in Millvale driving a red GMC truck.

“He left out of my house February 2nd, five years ago,” said his legal guardian, Necia Wright. “He kissed me, and told me he loved me, and that he’d see me later ma.”

Cincinnati police are no closer to solving the case.

“I want them to find my boy before I die,” Necia said. “I want him found and I want to know who did this.”

Family and friends gathered at Carson Elementary on Thursday to remember him and release balloons in his honor.

“He’s a nephew, he’s a son, he’s a dad. And it’s just not fair,” said Shannon Morris, Joshua’s friend. “We’re not going to stop talking about him or showing his picture. We’re going to keep looking for you, Josh.”

In the months after his disappearance, members of his family told investigators they’d received anonymous phone calls telling them to stop looking. Another caller warned that when authorities found Joshua’s truck, they would find his body.

Police would eventually recover the truck in South Fairmount. They did not find his body with it.

In January 2019, the family received an anonymous tip about where the body was located — a house several blocks from where the truck was found. Then, just two days after the first anniversary of Joshua’s disappearance, a search of the area turned up a skull “laying there wide in the open,” according to Dawson.

Dawson said a good friend of Joshua’s lived in the house where the remains were found. The remains were not his, but those of a 67-year-old man whom the family does not know.

Joshua’s father died in 2001 without learning what happened to his son. “He didn’t care about finding the body. He said he was gone. He wanted to know why and who did it for his closure, and he hasn’t had that,” Dawson said at the time.

At Thursday’s balloon release, Dawson described Joshua as a “great” person.

“He’d give you the shirt off his back... We want to find him. We will do whatever we have to do to find him.”

The family vows to continue to hold balloon releases on the anniversary of Joshua’s disappearance every year until they have justice and closure.

Wright has numerous tattoos including two teardrops near his right eye and one on his left. He also has “Supreme" written across his forehead.

He is described as 6′0″, 230 lbs. with brown eyes and bald with a black beard.

There is a $2,000 reward for information.

If you have any information, you’re urged to call Cincinnati Police or Crime Stoppers at 513.352.3040.

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