A Week In, Wilson Still Missing

Rice junior Matthew Wilson, 20, is still missing, and while authorities are not treating the case as foul play, concern is growing. Wilson, whose car is gone but who left his cell phone in the apartment he shares with a roommate, often goes into near-isolation around finals period, say those who know him. His roommate, upon not seeing him for several days, assumed he had merely missed him on his way to or from the library, but Wilson turned in none of the four finals for the semester (which would have been due December 19th).

Wilson made a four hundred dollar withdrawal from his bank account on the day he was last seen, according to his mother, but his roommate says he didn't use it to pay rent or bills. A dedicated student who didn't use email, Wilson is hard to contact: his mother is used to talking to him rarely during the semester. The Chronicle reports that Wilson doesn't have a facebook profile: they're wrong, but you're not missing much if you can't access the Rice network, since its pretty minimal.

While a certain number of college students go accidentally missing around this time of year as they fly home without telling roommates or cause other false-alarm situations (as has happened at Rice in the past), a disappearance of a week is unusual: "At this point," says Rice spokesman B.J. Almond, "they're not speculating one way or the other." The Rice police chief appeared on national TV last night to raise information about the search.

Anyone who may have information or who has seen Wilson is encouraged to call RUPD at 713.688.6000. He may be in his car, a silver 2004 Dodge Neon, Oklahoma plate 863 MCZ.