FORT HOOD, TEXAS — The Fernandes family traveled nearly 2,000 miles from Boston to search for Sgt. Elder Fernandes. The Fort Hood soldier hasn’t been seen since Monday.
To us, Sgt. Elder Fernandes is a United States soldier. To his loved ones he’s a friend, a brother, a son.
”His pictures on the Facebook and every time I see it it... hurts more,” Ailina Fernandes, the soldier's mother, said while crying. “It hurt in your soul. When I see his picture of him smiling... I know he’s nowhere to be found.”
Sgt. Fernandes comes from a tight-knit family who are desperate to find him.
”We are here all worried,” said his aunt, Isabel Fernandes. “It’s a big family, and we just need to find him and we need to find him alive and we need to find him soon.”
The Fort Hood soldier was last seen Monday after he was discharged from an on-post hospital. His mother says she talked with him while he was in the hospital, but they haven’t spoken since.
”It’s just known that he’s not answering his phone. He’s nowhere to be found. Something is really wrong,” she said.
Elder recently rented an apartment and was supposed to pick up the keys but he never made it. His aunt says he lived to serve his country.
”He told us as a family that he’s going to make the Army his career,” Isabel claimed. “He came from a military background. His dad was military… he liked it as far as we know. ”
The missing soldier's mom says living life without her son is something she can’t fathom.
”When I turn back to Boston to go home to take Elder with me,” Ailina said with tears running off of her cheeks. “From wherever place he is at. He needs to come with us.
The search continues for Sgt. Fernandes as loved ones, Fort Hood and local authorities urge people to get his name out.
