Lufkin Police, Local Family Asks for Help in Locating Missing Man

via Lufkin Police Dept Press Release

The Lufkin Police Department is asking citizens to be on the lookout for a local man reported missing by his wife Thursday morning (8/13).  As of now, the department has no reason to believe that 50-year-old Franklin Strickland, who owns Strickland Custom Building and Remodeling, has been a victim of foul play.

His wife told an officer that she last saw him just before he left their home on Randybrook Street around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to go to a nearby car wash. He left driving a white 1996 Ford Aerostar, which has damage to the right, rear quarter panel and a magnetic sign that reads “Strickland Custom Building and Remodeling.”
His wife said she called him an hour later, and he told her he was going to McCoy’s Building Supply to get materials for a job. Two hours later, she said, she called him again and the phone went straight to voicemail and has continued to do so ever since.
McCoy’s employees told Strickland’s wife that they hadn’t seen him there.
One of Strickland’s employees told an officer that the morning before he went missing, Strickland said he would come out to a jobsite in Central, but he never showed. The employee said that happened a few times during the past few weeks, which is unlike his boss.

Strickland’s daughter, Kayleigh Evans, said it is unlike her father to disappear without at least letting her or his mother know where he is going.  “We’ve checked with family, friends and the usual places he goes. No one has seen him,” Evans said. “He had everyday stress just like everybody, but this isn’t like him. Daddy, please just come home.”
It is department policy that when an individual doesn’t meet the criteria to be put into a state or national missing persons database, an incident report is still taken, according to Det. JB Smith. “It gets forwarded on to the criminal investigations division look into it to make sure nothing has been missed and that the person is not in danger in some way,” Smith said. “If they are missing of their own accord and there is no indication that they are in danger – not mentally ill, a child, elderly, or medically dependent – we will do what we can to make sure they are OK. We’ll tell the family what we find if we locate them, but people are allowed to leave.”
Strickland is 5’11, 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
If you have information on Strickland’s whereabouts, call Lufkin Police at 633-0356.