The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a missing Pontotoc man, Christopher Vanhaaften.
Vanhaaften was reported missing Oct. 6. He was last seen on the evening of Friday, Oct. 2, on Dallas Drive near the Monroe County line, according to Capt. Ryan Rickert with the LCSO. Reports said that he was heading away from his car, which was on fire.
The LCSO currently has Vanhaaften’s cell phone and are using it to investigate the case. Rickert said they are investigating the possibility that he left town.
Rickert said that Vanhaaften has several addresses, the most recent of which is in Pontotoc.
Vanhaaften’s mother-in-law, Kay Crenshaw, told The Dispatch that the day he was last seen, he lit his car on fire and sent pictures of the burned car to his wife, Jennifer Vanhaaften. She went to get Vanhaaften while on the phone with Crenshaw, who had reached out to law enforcement officers. Crenshaw said he had been behaving strangely
“He was not (acting like) my son-in-law,” Crenshaw said.
Jennifer Vanhaaften found her husband in Monroe County and drove him to a Chevron station near Dallas Drive, but he ran away while she was in the bathroom, Crenshaw said.
Vanhaaften’s family has checked with his friends, and when a Dispatch reporter contacted her Monday, both she and Jennifer Vanhaaften were searching areas near where he was last seen. Crenshaw said Vanhaaften had been running toward Spruill Road.
Vanhaaften is described as being 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing approximately 160 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes.
To report any information about Vanhaaften’s whereabouts, call the LCSO at 662-328-6788 or Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at 1-800-530-7151.
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