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Missing Man Found Barely Breathing After Three Days
Tue, November 21, 2023
A man is lucky to be alive after he was found barely breathing in the bushes by his family. 34-year-old Rondell Jacobs is a teacher at Tubal Trade and Vocational Institute, but when he did not show up for work on Thursday, the school called his family.

After multiple searches by the police, it was his family that finally found him in a ditch, three days later. Tonight, he is recovering at the KHMH - in an induced coma.

Courtney Menzies spoke with his sister-in-law about the family's frantic search to find him. Here is that story.

The family of 34-year-old Rondell Jacobs began to worry after he'd left from 6:00 on Thursday morning to go to work but never arrived. They went straight to the police, who found nothing after a search of the Boom Road, where he travels every morning.

But his family didn't give up, and instead, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Three days later, they finally found Jacobs, badly hurt, but still alive.

Kenisha Jacobs, Sister-In-Law
"So we gave it 24 hours and we didn't see anything from the police stating that well we have this missing person report, nothing."

"So I said well maybe its 48, but time is of the essence especially when somebody is missing. They set out for a search on Friday and nothing. And then we got a hold. I'm telling you this story is nothing but short of a miracle."

"They set out Friday, they looked for him, nothing. And then the Friday night his mom finally found his tablet and she said, Kenisha look I found his tablet. She said take this home and see what you can do with this. Maybe you can track the phone. We brought about the tablet, home and me and my husband. We went through the tablet and you know how technology go everything a password and so. And we retrieved password from the laptop that was at his work and that's how we got into the Google and we tracked it."

"And I told him this is where the cycle stopped. And we got up early the next morning and we set out, but before we went we stopped right at the police station and we showed them what we found. And the police had us there almost an hour."

"This is time again almost an hour and he said he took a look at it and he said I'm trying to figure out where this is. And then he said this is not in my jurisdiction so I will call Boom police. So we set out again on our own and we stopped exactly at the location following all the on the satellite and everything and we stopped at the location and that's when we walked in and I'm telling you again this is this is a miracle, God was leading from the beginning. He and his mom they went one way and we went another and we walked 10 minutes into where we tracked it and we found Rondell and when we found him he all he did was to lift his foot to us and you know when he was balling in pain, ants was on him and I was like oh mein. We stood there and we talked to him we talked him through until the ambulance get there got there."

And just in time, since the doctor told the family he might not have survived another day. Today, he was doing much better, but had to be sedated while the hospital tended to him.

And while initial police reports said that Jacobs lost control of the motorcycle, the family believes he was intentionally hit by a vehicle. Their proof? These apparent car tracks in the mud near where he was found.

Kenisha Jacobs, Sister-In-Law
"When the Boom police got there, they said it themselves that this guy was deliberately knocked down. You could see the two tracks there where this vehicle ran down into the mud there and like it bagged and reverse back out and gone."

"And the funny thing that we saw as well is that his phone was clean, no mud, anything. Everything else was dirty. His phone was clean. It had no scratches. It had no brakes, nothing. It was just clean like it was just set right there."

"And his mom said the morning she watched him put his phone in his backpack. So something is really wrong there. The police, they told us that they went to search and a piece of his bike was right on the roadside."

"A piece of the motorcycle was right on the roadside."

Reporter
"And you guys went to the police from Thursday. So you feel like if they had done a more thorough or extensive search from Thursday, he could have been found from then."

Kenisha Jacobs, Sister-In-Law
"Yes, ma'am, and better condition."

But who would want this teacher dead? That's what the family wants to know.

Kenisha Jacobs, Sister-In-Law
"It's very nerve-racking. It's very sad, very emotional. Because if anybody know Rondell, he's a very humble guy."

"Humble. Very humble. You know, anything you could ask him to do, he would do it. Everybody know Rondell as that, very humble guy. So I don't know why they would want to hurt him like that."

And after being given the runaround by police, Jacobs' mother is hoping to speak with the Commissioner about information that might be useful.

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