Friends and family of a 24-year-old missing Tempe man are making an all-out effort in a search that has lasted nearly a week.
Willie Jigba was last seen around 3 a.m. Saturday at a party in Tempe, according to Tempe Police. His family reported him missing Sunday.
Jigba was at the Sotelo Apartments at 615 E. Weber Drive near College Avenue and Curry Road and attempted to walk home from the party.
Jigba is described as an African American male about 6 feet tall and 185 pounds.
Helpers have passed out fliers at the Tempe campus with a photo of Jigba.
Jigba was one of the first friends that Amillia Saunders made when she came to ASU from Texas as a freshman last year.
“I don’t understand what happened,” said Saunders, a microbiology sophomore.
Jigba, who is not a student at ASU, has a lot of friends, and knows many students on the Tempe campus, Saunders said. She last spoke with him on Jan. 12, three days before he went missing.
“I’ve been trying not to think about it,” Saunders said.
Friends and family became concerned when Jigba did not show for the first day at his new job.
Jigba is not believed to be a danger to anyone, but leaving unexpectedly is not something that he would usually do, Tempe Police said in a press release.
“There’s no signs of foul play right now that we have found,” Tempe Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal said.
Across Tempe, groups of people have been active in spreading the word that Willie Jigba is missing. A group of his past co-workers from Olive Garden have been handing fliers out on the Tempe campus.
“This is just not like him,” said Jenn Brown, a former co-worker. “He wouldn’t just get up and skip town like this.”
Brown believes that most of the people who knew Jigba were ASU students or living in the Tempe community. Brown and other past co-workers plan to hand out fliers indefinitely.
“Everybody loves Willie," she said. “He’s a good guy. He wouldn’t just leave and do that to his family.”
Brown has been actively posting on one of two Facebook pages dedicated to the cause. The page “Help us find Willie Jigba,” had 785 members at the time of publication.
The other page, “*Willie Jigba: MISSING* search party” is a public event and was created Wednesday.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Tempe Police Department at 480-350-8311.
Reach the reporter at mdparret@asu.edu
