Cyris Sumner is no longer a missing person.
Sumner, who was 23 at the time of his disappearance, was found on Feb. 6 in New York City after being missing for six months, according to his cousins Zoey LaCasse and Amanda Hoag, who spearheaded his search on social media.
On Wednesday, North Adams Police Lt. Anthony Beverly confirmed Sumner was no longer missing and had been removed from the department’s missing persons database.Â
“Our family is very relieved to know he’s OK, especially with all the freezing weather and storms we’ve been having and after months of searching,” LaCasse wrote in a public Facebook post. “Thank you to all who helped us with information, helped share, and who kept an eye out.”
LaCasse asked the public to give the family space as they continue to process the situation. However, she said she was grateful for how the community came together to support the search.
Cyris Sumner was found on Feb. 6 in New York City after being missing for six months.Â
National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
“There have been people reaching out and we are overwhelmed by the support of our community in the search for Cyris,” she said in her post.
Sumner, a 2020Â graduate of Hoosac Valley High School, was last seen in North Adams on July 27. After that sighting, he traveled to New York City by either bus or train, Hoag said. Family members later discovered his bank account had been emptied. Sumner’s wallet, Social Security card and debit cards were found on the corner of Canal and Center streets in New York City on Aug. 19 and turned into the city’s 5th Precinct.
The family didn’t know why he left or what his intent was. “We are all so worried about him,” Lawson told The Eagle in December, five months after he went missing.
At the time, the family said it had no leads.
“It’s hard not to assume the worst at this point,” Hoag said.
Four days before Sumner was found, LaCasse told The Eagle that the family felt police were not “taking our case seriously.”
LaCasse and Hoag said that Christmas was especially challenging without Sumner. However, LaCasse said the family “still came together though and we tried our best to make the best of it.”
LaCasse, who worked with Sumner at the Animal Inn of the Berkshires, said, growing up, Sumner was kind, caring and loved animals. She said he was “generous even in tough times.” He dreamed of becoming a marine biologist.
“He was always quiet, but he would warm up to people and he was quirky and funny and would make people laugh,” she said. “I once brought him and his brother to a school dance because I wanted them to have the experience of one and meet new people. Cyris created a silly dance and others had joined in with him.”
She was relieved when he was found safe.
“We are just happy to know he is alive and OK,” LaCasse said.
Mitchell Chapman is The Eagle’s night news editor.Â