The Mason County Sheriff's department is searching for a young father tonight. The man was last seen Friday and reported missing over the weekend, "It's just like he disappeared. Nothing", said Stephanie Kearney, Englebrecht's girlfriend of 11 years.
That's what family and friends are saying about 27-year-old Dustin Englebrecht, a Mason City man who, according to them, seems to have up and vanished.
"If I work a eight hour day, I get called three times a day just to say, 'Hey, what are you doing?' There's constant communication", said Kearney.
And now Mason County police are searching this rural area surrounding his home for any signs of him. Family members say they realized Englebrecht was missing when he failed to pick up his son from the bus stop after school.
Cheryl Potts, Englebrecht's mother said, "He's always got that cell phone in his hand, texting, calling. He cares about his son, he's not going to leave anybody to pick up his son or leave his son to fend for himself".
And Potts says when she tried to call his phone later that night; it went to voice-mail, a rarity. In fact his girlfriend says there were no signs of a struggle or anything in their home. "No clothes missing, so I'm assuming he was wearing like jammie pants. Every thing's there, there's nothing missing. I have his wallet".
And family and friends say they can think of no one who would want to hurt the father and soon to be husband. His mother said, "Not as far as I know. He was a very loving person, giving and he wasn't afraid of anything".
Police are releasing little information at this time, but authorities say they have canine units and mounted horses involved in the search. They won't say whether or not foul play is suspected.
"Dustin come home, call the police let somebody know that he's alright" pleaded his mother.
His girlfriend playfully joked saying, "I'm hoping he's gonna walk in the door and be like surprise! And then I'm going to go to jail for domestic battery".
