It’s been more than two years since a 41-year-old Birmingham man vanished, and his family is pleading for answers in his disappearance.
Lee Curtis Vanderbilt was last seen Wednesday, July 20, 2022, when he left home in the 1600 block of 31st Street in Ensley.
“It has beat me down,’’ said his mother, Joe Ann Walton. “I just can’t for the life of me figure out why he hasn’t come visit me. Bleeding, shot, whatever, he would come visit me.”
Walton said she last saw her son the day before he disappeared. He had stopped by her house, like he always did. He got something to drink and $5.
“It was a dreary day,’’ Walton recalled. “He wasn’t acting right. He was anxious or nervous about something.”
Walton had to go into the hospital the following day. It was then Vanderbilt’s girlfriend called her and asked Walton if she had seen him.
She had woken him up that Wednesday morning before she left for work about 8:30 a.m. No one has heard from him since then.
“When I got back home, he still hadn’t showed up,’’ Walton said. “It’s been hard on me because I’m used to seeing him every day, or at least every other day.”
Walton said it’s very much unlike her son to disappear.
“He wouldn’t leave the area without saying something to me or his girlfriend,’’ she said. “They had been together for years and were together all the time.”
“He was a goodhearted person,’’ she said.
Walton said she and the rest of the family need answers.
“I just feel like he’s gone,’’ she said. “Because whatever was going on, my son would have been back to my house.”
“It’s been on my mind every day since that day,’’ Walton said.
Police said Vanderbilt’s disappearance is suspicious.
He is described as a Black male, 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighing 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black shirt with camouflage sleeves, camouflage shorts, and Nautica sandals.
Anyone who has information about Vanderbilt’s disappearance is asked to call police 911 or 205-328-9311.
