Police in Arlington found the body of a missing man in a storage unit on Tuesday morning.
The man, tentatively identified as 27-year-old military veteran Debony Maffett II, had been missing for nearly two weeks.
Maffett worked at a nearby pair of 7-Eleven convenience stores located across the street from each other.
The stores’ owner, Alyson Lawson, told FOX 4 that Maffett had dutifully come in for all of his shifts for more than two years.
“He’s never missed a shift. When he comes in, he’s very quiet and very nice, very well-mannered,” she said.
Lawson said she lost contact with Maffett after he left work on March 23.
“I actually called him that morning and asked him if he could do a shift change. He said, ‘sure, not a problem.’ He walked across the street. He went back across the street, clocked out, and I saw him walking south on Matlock and nobody has seen or heard from him again,” she told FOX 4.
After he failed to show up for work several times, the 7-Eleven store owner and Maffett’s Atlanta-based family filed a missing person report and began seeking answers surrounding his disappearance.
Investigators with the Arlington Police Department utilized drones to search for Maffett, flying over places he was known to visit after his phone location was tracked to Cravens Park.
Police received reports of Maffett being sighted, but they were unable to locate him.
Law enforcement eventually found a body believed to be Maffett in a Public Storage facility on Arlington’s South Cooper Street.
Maffett rented a storage unit from the facility and occasionally slept in it. He was known to have mental illnesses but was considered high-functioning.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner has yet to determine the cause of death or definitive identity of the man presumed to be Debony Maffett II.
According to the World Population Review, 1,246 people have been reported missing in Texas in 2023, or about 4.09 per 100,000 people. Texas has the third-most missing people this year, behind California (2,133) and Florida (1,252).
Such a sad ebding for this young man. My condolence for his family.
The system failed another veteran! No veteran should be sleeping in a storage unit. Veterans need to receive more when they discharge from the service. More time should be given to our soldiers for re-entry into civilian society. More physical and mental therapy needs to be given.
These men and women signed up on their own accord. The damaging things a soldier goes through, most civilians can not even fathom. These soldiers stood up, signed up and went to the enemy. Our government needs to understand that these men and women are “not” disposable. They are sons, daughters, moms, dads, husbands, wives and the protectors of this great nation of ours.
My prayers go out to each and everyone that serves and has served.
Please remember that no one can FORCE another to accept help. The first step is to ask and want it and be willing to work through whatever the problem is. Until we find that it was asked for any not given then there can be no comment about our system not working.
The same is true for drug and alcohol abuse. When help is “forced” it rarely produces the desired change.
Each homeless person has his or her own reason and story for being homeless. You cannot judge the Veteran homeless problem based on opions and what you preceive the problem as. Mental illness is very real and affects so many that it does not matter the available resources.