Jackson community rallies to find missing Belhaven Heights resident

A week since Jackson resident Dau Mabil was last seen walking on his usual path, family and community members are pleading for his return and for anyone with information to come forward. 

Dau Mabil, a Belhaven Heights resident, went missing March 25 after going on a walk without his phone. Video footage showed him near Jefferson Street between Fortification and High Street around 12:15 p.m., which is when he texted his wife about going to walk around his usual area, from home toward downtown and back.  

“We just don’t know after that footage what happened and why he’s not home,” Karissa Bowley, Mabil’s wife, said Monday. “… I’m trying to make sure nothing is happening to him. We’re just trying to find out information.”

Karissa Bowley pleads for her husband, Dau Mabil, to return home safely during a press conference concerning his disappearance in Jackson, Miss., on Monday, April 1, 2024. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Neighbors, members of the community and beyond took action, searching the area, putting up flyers, sharing information online and asking people to check any personal home security for any sightings of Mabil. 

At a Monday press conference, Bowley was joined by Bul Mabil, Dau’s brother who lives in Texas, and Jeff Good, a Jackson restaurant owner who is friends with the family and owns Sal & Mookies, where Dau Mabil works. They encouraged people to share any information that can help find him. 

The Department of Public Safety shared information about Mabil as a missing person on its Facebook page two days after he was reported missing. 

The family filed a missing persons report with the Capitol Police last week. That force is handling the case because Belhaven, Belhaven Heights and downtown fall within the Capitol Complex Improvement District. Bowley hopes Capitol Police will work with the Jackson Police Department. 

Mabil was one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan who came to Jackson in 2000. 

The brothers fled South Sudan when a civil war broke out and escaped to Ethiopia, only to have to leave when a war broke out there. About 20,000 Sudanese boys fled the country during this time. 

From a North Kenya refugee camp, the brothers were among 50 boys who came to Mississippi with the help of Catholic Charities, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and Millsaps College, the Clarion Ledger reported in 2014. 

Bowley said it’s encouraging to hear people be hopeful and offer support to help find her husband. 

“The help gives me a distraction from the despair,” she said.

Anyone with information on Mabil’s whereabouts can contact Crime Stoppers, 601-355-8477 or www.P3tips/116; Karissa Bowley, (601) 566-5739; or Capitol Police, (601) 359-3125.

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