Mother of Greensburg man missing since July fears he is dead
The search for Ruben Carranza began with hope, but now only questions and grief remain more than 10 weeks later.
Carranza, 31, was reported missing in late July and was last seen in Greensburg.
"If I get his body back, then I also can answer questions as to what happened to him, and hopefully rest a little better if I don't see any trauma on his body," his mother, Dawn Rose, said on Friday.
KDKA's Mamie Bah said, "You're saying body, do you think your son is dead?"
"Because of the evidence that we know, that maybe other people don't know that the detectives have shared with us, is why we feel hopeless," Rose said.
They are accepting what they feared from the start: that their beloved son is dead.
"I do feel like he's passed," Rose said. "I do. I'm just looking for his remains."
Rose and the 31-year-old man's stepfather will search in Acme on Saturday. Police said Carranza's vehicle had been located in Acme and that their investigation revealed that the car was purposely hidden on Aug. 5, the same day Carranza was first publicly reported missing.
"It's more of searching, so I could say where he isn't at this point because I feel like I have to do something," Rose said.
Carranza was last seen in Greensburg on July 29.
"I don't think accepting he's gone is giving up hope," Rose said. "There's a reality."
It's a painful reality that his family is learning to live with. Next month, the family plans to come together for a memorial. It will be a way to say goodbye, even if they can't bring him home.
"I want to have a place I can go and I can think about him," Rose said. "I want the headstone, I want the cemetery plot, I want a memorial service so his friends and community and his family can come together to really honor him."
A $3,000 reward is being offered to anyone with information that can help authorities locate Carranza.