Philadelphia police are searching for 18-year-old Jahmez Cartwright, whose family believes was possibly “lured away” by someone he was messaging with over the online gaming platform Roblox.
Cartwright was last seen in Philadelphia on Monday, January 12, wearing a black coat and blue jeans, the Philadelphia Police Department confirmed to Us Weekly via email.
He had left for school that morning and vanished, according to a Facebook post by Simone Cartwright, who says Jahmez is her grandson.
Police said that Jahmez’s “phone was pinged in San Diego, California on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.”
Jahmez, according to his family, has an intellectual disability which makes him at risk of being potentially manipulated, WPVI-TV reported.
Simone wrote on Facebook on Wednesday, January 14 that “Evidence suggests he may have been communicating online with an older man through the gaming platform Roblox.”
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“A teenager without ID or an income does not simply vanish from Philadelphia and reappear digitally in California without help,” she added.
His family told WPVI-TV that Jahmez’s friends, who have access to his iCloud location, discovered his phone was in California.
“How did he get there? He don’t have ID,” his mother, LaShante Crocker, said while speaking with the outlet. “Did someone take him?”
Jahmez is 5-foot-7, weighs 120 pounds and is described as having a “thin build,” according to Philadelphia police. He also has black curly hair and brown eyes.
In a missing person alert the Black & Missing Foundation shared for Jahmez, the organization noted that the 18-year-old wears glasses and was also known to be wearing white Rick Owen’s sneaker boots when he disappeared.
Natalie Wilson, the co-founder of the non-profit organization, said his disappearance is “very alarming,” while speaking with WPVI-TV.
“We are jumping on this case right away because time is of the essence,” Wilson said.
Jahmez is a student at Hardy Williams High School in southwest Philadelphia, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. The school is a part of Mastery Schools.
In a statement to NBC10 Philadelphia, Mastery Schools said: “We are aware of the current situation involving 18-year-old Hardy Williams High School student, Jahmez Cartwright.”
“Following Mastery Schools policy, the student’s family received an absence notification when he didn’t arrive to school,” the statement added.
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Jahmez’s cousin Aisha Green told NBC10 Philadelphia that Jahmez has never left the city of Philadelphia.
“If there is someone who has our cousin, holding him without will, we won’t stop,” Green said, the outlet reported. “You know, we miss him. He belongs to us, not you.”
The Philadelphia Police Department is calling on the public’s help in the search for Jahmez.
The agency is asking that anyone with information on Jahmez’s location contact Southwest Philadelphia detectives at (215) 686-3183.
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In the U.S., about 600,000 people are reported missing each year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a resource center focused on addressing missing and unidentified persons cases in the country.
“While many of these individuals are found alive and well, some become long-term missing persons,” the center says online.
If you know of a young person who is being exploited or is the victim of a crime, you are urged to report it to your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be left at tips.fbi.gov