Six days after South Bend police first asked the public for help finding him, 17-year-old Eddie Weiser still has not come home. The South Bend Police Department issued an update saying Weiser, described as 6 feet tall and 145 pounds with blonde hair and hazel eyes, has yet to return, and that his family remains concerned about his welfare.
The department first appealed for public assistance locating Weiser last Friday, according to a post from the South Bend Police Department on Facebook, before publishing Thursday's follow-up confirming he had still not turned up. Weiser has several tattoos and was last known to be in Mishawaka and South Bend, and he may be wearing a powder blue hoodie and white shoes, per the department's bulletin. Police say he has ties not only to those two Indiana cities but also to Buchanan, Michigan, and anyone with information is asked to call 9-1-1.
Weiser's mother, Christa Robards, made public statements on social media after the initial report went out, requesting help and confirming that her son has family and friends in Buchanan. That city sits in Berrien County roughly 13 to 15 miles north of South Bend, according to Buchanan Charter Township records, putting it about a 20-minute drive across the state line — close enough that a missing teen with ties there could plausibly be moving between two states without ever leaving familiar ground.
How Runaway Cases Are Classified in Indiana
South Bend police have classified Weiser's case as a runaway juvenile rather than a missing endangered child, a distinction that carries real legal weight. Under Indiana Code § 10-13-5-4, a missing child is any person under 18 whose location is unknown to a parent or legal custodian and who has been reported missing to law enforcement, according to the Indiana State Police. But issuing a statewide Silver Alert requires police to show the youth is either a missing endangered child with a disability or a high-risk missing person facing imminent risk of injury or death, per Indiana Code § 5-2-17-1 — a higher bar that Weiser's case has not, so far, met.
That gap between runaway status and a full Silver Alert has become a point of local friction. Following a July runaway posting by South Bend police, the local advocacy group Break The Label publicly urged the department to swap the phrase runaway juvenile for missing juvenile in its social media notices, arguing the runaway label can dampen public urgency and sharing.
Cancelling a Runaway Report Requires an In-Person Return
Formally closing a runaway case in South Bend is not as simple as a phone call. The City of South Bend's 311 Service Portal states that while runaway reports can be filed in person at the police department, canceling one officially requires bringing the individual directly to the station for identity verification.
The case also sits within a broader regional pattern. Data compiled by the National Runaway Safeline for 2024 and 2025 shows St. Joseph County accounted for 5 percent of all crisis contacts originating from Indiana, placing it among the state's top five counties for youth runaway and crisis inquiries. Separately, reporting by WFYI in 2022 noted that St. Joseph County has historically committed a higher number of youth to state juvenile facilities relative to its population than almost any other Indiana county, with status offenses like running away cited as a contributing factor.
Nationally, the outlook for missing children skews toward safe outcomes. Federal data published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention shows 91 percent of missing children reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2024 were safely recovered. South Bend police have not released further updates beyond confirming Weiser remains missing, and anyone with information is urged to call 9-1-1.
