Napa Police are asking the public for help finding Benjamin Rowton, a 34-year-old man who has been missing from North Napa since last Saturday. Rowton, described by city officials as a white man standing 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 189 pounds, was last seen wearing a t-shirt and shorts and carrying a black duffle bag, according to police.
The disappearance, first reported by the Napa Valley Register, has prompted city officials to send an Everbridge text message alert to residents. Police describe Rowton as having brown hair and brown eyes and say he is considered at risk. Officials have asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the Napa Police Department at 707-257-9223.
This is not the first time Rowton has gone missing in Napa. In September 2020, when he was 29, Napa Police issued a nearly identical public appeal after he disappeared from the area of Sierra Avenue and Willis Drive, according to SFGATE. At the time, he was described as 6 feet 8 inches tall and 160 pounds, last seen wearing black sweatpants and a T-shirt without shoes.
A Crucial Detail From His 2020 Disappearance
SFGATE's 2020 reporting also disclosed a detail not included in this week's release from officials: Rowton is autistic and nonverbal. That distinction matters for anyone who might encounter him, since it can shape how he responds to strangers or is able to communicate his own name or location if approached.
Under California law, that kind of cognitive or developmental impairment places Rowton in a legally defined category. California Penal Code Section 14215 defines an at-risk missing person to include those who are mentally or cognitively impaired, developmentally disabled, or in need of medical attention, per Justia. Penal Code Section 14211 requires law enforcement agencies to accept missing person reports without delay and submit at-risk cases to state and national databases within two hours, a mandate that gives such reports priority over property crime investigations, according to FindLaw.
How Officials Broadcast the Search
The Everbridge alert sent to Napa residents runs through the ALERT Napa County notification system, which is operated by Napa County Emergency Services and local municipal agencies and replaced the county's former Nixle service. Napa Police also have access to automated license plate readers through vendors Flock Safety and Axon, which cross-reference scanned vehicles against National Crime Information Center databases for missing person cases, according to the City of Napa's ALPR policy.
If Rowton's case escalates, California has another tool available. Government Code Section 8594.10 allows law enforcement to request a statewide Silver Alert through the California Highway Patrol for developmentally disabled or cognitively impaired individuals of any age, a provision expanded under SB 1127. Hoodline covered a regional alert for a missing North Bay senior in January, when the CHP activated a Silver Alert spanning Napa, Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino, and Solano counties.
Napa's Recent History With Missing Person Searches
Extended searches for missing adults are not new to Napa. In June 2024, police spent a week searching for 46-year-old James Millimaki before his body was recovered following a motorcycle crash on Mount Veeder Road, with investigators saying at the time the crash did not involve suspicious circumstances.
California leads the nation in open missing person cases, with more than 3,000 active reports logged in the NamUs database in 2026, according to World Population Review. Nationwide, there are roughly 6.5 missing person cases per 100,000 residents, a figure that underscores how common — and how urgent — cases like Rowton's remain for local departments across the state. For now, Napa Police are relying on the public's eyes to help bring Rowton home safely.
