Family pleads for help finding missing Opelousas man, left for work in Alabama and did not return
Dijon Seraille, 25, left his home in July for a job in Opelika, Alabama. His family said he was supposed to meet his cousin on Sunday, Aug. 6, to return home.
OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY)-- The family of a missing Opelousas man and authorities are searching for him after he left the state for work and never returned.
Dijon Seraille, 25, left his home in July for a job in Opelika, Alabama. His family said he was supposed to meet his cousin on Sunday, Aug. 6, to return home.
According to the Evangeline Parish Sheriff, Seraille told his grandmother he was coming home but never returned. Authorities in both Alabama and Evangeline Parish confirmed they have a missing person's report.
"As cousins, we all grew up together," Ashley Thomas, Seraille's cousin, said. "We spent a lot of time together and when you grow up, you never think ok, my cousin is missing. You see it on TV all the time. You just never think it's your real life, that it's happening."
Thomas said her cousin was last seen on Sunday. His coworkers dropped him off at a bus station in Opelika, Alabama, where he'd been working.
Irma Vallier, Seraille's grandmother, said an Opelika police officer reviewed surveillance video showing him getting on the bus. The bus made several stops before arriving in Illinois, where he was supposed to meet a family member. He never showed, and for the last week, his phone goes straight to voicemail.
"This is not like him," Thomas said. "If he's in trouble or if something is wrong with him, his first phone call would be to our grandmother. If he's in trouble, he'll always reach out to her, and nobody has heard from him at all."
"Just call us. Let us know you're alright," Vallier said.
Vallier and Thomas said they fear he may be in danger.
"We really just want him to come home, even if he doesn't want to come home. Just let us know he's safe and that his family does love and care about him. He can give any one of us a phone call," Thomas added.
If you see Seraille or know where he may be, contact the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office or the Opelika Police Department in Alabama.