Leaders Matter, by Sheryl Collmer

Over a month ago, on the night of March 30, Jonathan Hoang disappeared from his house near Seattle. He’d gone upstairs to bed on Sunday evening, but when his mother went to wake him for school on Monday morning, he was gone. There are no known suspects yet.

Jonathan is autistic, with the outlook and capacity of perhaps an eight-year-old, but he is chronologically 21, making the case harder to pursue. Law enforcement approached it as though it was just another young adult gone on a walkabout. They didn’t understand that Jonathan can’t function at an adult level, or even close. His family says he would not even know his own address.

Like many autistic children, Jonathan has fixed habits, with which his family is well acquainted. They knew from the beginning that his disappearance was not voluntary. The very quality that makes Jonathan so lovable—his trusting, helpful nature—was likely used to lure him away from his home. …

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