GRANITE CITY/EAST ST. LOUIS - Joshua Amos is a 32-year-old Granite City man who was last seen on March 19, 2023, in East St. Louis. Four months after his disappearance, his family is asking the community to help bring him home.
“It’s just left such a hole in our family. He’s got two beautiful girls. They miss him so much,” Karin Ahart, Amos’s aunt, said. “He’s the one where all the nieces and nephews want to ride with Josh, want to spend the night with Josh, want to get picked up with him. He is the fun one. He’s silly, sarcastic, funny. He’s a sweetheart. He’s that guy of the family. He’s pretty much the one that ties us all together.”
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Ahart said the circumstances of Amos’s sudden and inexplicable disappearance have been incredibly painful. The family regularly shares updates on the “#BringJoshHome; Joshua Amos - Missing Person” Facebook page. They post pictures and stories of Amos and ask him to return home.
Prior to his disappearance, Amos had spent the night with three friends at a club in East St. Louis. There is security footage of Amos outside of Scarlett’s Cabaret around 4:58 a.m. on Sunday morning, March 19. In the video, he walks out of the parking lot alone. A bus driver at Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center MetroLINK spoke with Amos a little later and said that he seemed disoriented and cold. The outside temperature would have been around 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
Amos told the bus driver that he needed to get home to Granite City. The bus driver helped him buy a bus pass. The next security footage sighting is at Emerson Park MetroLINK at 6:45 a.m. Amos can be seen waiting for a train, but does not appear to board one.
At 7:28 a.m., there is footage of Amos walking through the parking lot at Ee-Jay Motor Transports in East St. Louis. He appears to be alone and does not seem to be in distress.
That was the last time anyone saw him.
The Illinois State Police Department has said there is no evidence to suggest foul play. There has been no activity on his credit or debit cards, and he did not have his cell phone on him.
The police and Amos’s family have organized several searches over the last few months, including at least five K-9 searches. The Illinois State Police led a search on July 18 near where Amos was last seen. Nearly 160 people came out to help as well as 60 first responders, but nothing was found.
“We’re holding onto hope,” Ahart said. “Since we didn’t find anything on the search, we just keep having our theories that he just jumped a train or got out of there somehow, since we could not see any evidence of him still being there. So we’re holding onto that right now.”
The family has a few other theories, though nothing has been confirmed. Ahart said there were rumors of a violent mugging in East St. Louis on the day that Amos disappeared. He didn’t appear injured to the bus driver or in the footage, but it’s a possibility that this was him. They’ve also considered that Amos fell asleep outside in the freezing temperatures and didn’t wake up.
Above all else, they hope Amos will come back to them. Ahart said her sister, Amos’s mom, answers 20 tips a night. The family asks anyone who thinks they see Amos to call 911 immediately before contacting them. They try to respond to every tip as quickly as possible, but it can take a while for someone from the family to get there; calling 911 will make sure there is an immediate response.
“Hopefully one time there will be a tip that will come to fruition and it will be Josh,” Ahart said. “That’s what we keep hoping for. But we’re so thankful for everyone that’s doing that, because that means they’re keeping their eyes open…I can’t say enough of the people that have just joined in the fight to find him.”
Ahart said there are conversations about other ideas and searches. They will update the Facebook page as these decisions are finalized.
In the meantime, his family is trying to adapt to this new reality. They call Amos the “camp counselor of the family” because of his love for his kids and the outdoors. He has two young daughters who are cheerleaders, and he goes to every game. Their mother has asked anyone with information to help him return to his children.
As an example of the kind of person that Amos is, Ahart explained that many family birthdays fall in July, so they usually just throw one party. But Amos had planned a special celebration for his younger brother’s 30th birthday. Four months after he planned the party, his brother will turn 30 next weekend and the family will try to celebrate like Amos wanted.
“And it’s going to be heartbreaking. We have to celebrate birthdays and holidays and all because we’re on our fourth month, and we’ve missed a lot with him already. It’s really hard for everyone to be together and be without him,” Ahart said. “He is missed. He’s missed a lot.”
Amos is 5’11” and weighs 190 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes. His daughters’ names, starting with “B” and “M,” are tattooed on his chest, and he has several other tattoos on his arms. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a light gray long-sleeve crew neck. He experiences lower back pain that can affect his gait. The family is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can help them find Amos.
If you see Amos, call 911. If you have any information that could help find him, the Washington Park Police Department asks you to call them at 618-874-0115.
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