A 24-year-old man is missing after he was last seen walking alone along a heavily trafficked commercial stretch of Richmond Road in James City County late Tuesday night, prompting state police to issue a Critically Missing Adult Alert. Keyshawn Jamahl Clark was spotted on foot in the 6000 block of Richmond Road near Williamsburg at approximately 10:18 p.m., and investigators say his disappearance poses a credible threat to his health and safety.
Virginia State Police issued the alert for Clark, as first reported by WAVY.com. Clark is described as a Black male with brown eyes and black hair, and he may be wearing a red shirt, black-and-white sweatpants, and black shoes, according to officials cited by the station. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact James City County Police Department dispatch at 757-566-0112.
How the Alert System Works
The Critically Missing Adult Alert, activated under Code of Virginia § 52-34.10, exists for missing individuals 18 and older whose disappearance poses a credible threat to their safety — filling the gap between child-focused AMBER Alerts and the Silver Alerts used for older adults. Before Virginia State Police can issue a statewide alert, local agencies are required to enter the missing person into the Virginia Criminal Information Network and the National Crime Information Center databases, according to state police procedures.
The alert mechanism is often called the Ashanti Alert, named for 19-year-old Ashanti Billie, who was abducted and killed in Hampton Roads in 2017. The Virginia General Assembly created the program in 2018 in response to her case, and the tragedy also spurred a national version of the law signed at the federal level in December 2018, according to the Washington Informer. Billie's case exposed how victims who were too old for a child alert and too young for a senior alert could slip through without a dedicated public warning tool.
A Busy Corridor Known to Local Police
Richmond Road, also known as Route 60, is a major commercial and transportation artery in James City County that carries roughly 19,000 to 22,000 vehicles a day while linking the Williamsburg area directly to Interstate 64, per a commercial listing on LoopNet. The stretch is lined with retail businesses and hotels, making it one of the busiest roadways in the area where Clark was last seen walking alone at night.
The corridor has drawn police attention before. In July, James City County officers responded to a report from a passerby along the 5300 block of Richmond Road involving a deceased 73-year-old resident, an investigation in which police ultimately ruled out foul play, according to James City County. Emergency response along the shared roadway is coordinated through the Peninsula Regional Emergency Communications Center, with James City County Police working alongside Williamsburg Police and the York County Sheriff's Office on cross-jurisdictional incidents, the City of Williamsburg notes.
Once an Adult Alert Is Activated
Once a Critically Missing Adult Alert is issued, the Virginia Missing Persons Clearinghouse — run by the Virginia State Police Criminal Justice Information Services Division — pushes the notice out through the Everbridge Public Warning platform, which can reach regional broadcast media and electronic highway signs across the state. State law requires local police to immediately notify Virginia State Police once a missing adult is located so that any active alert can be canceled and the public is not left watching for someone who has already been found.
Similar alerts have recently led to quick, safe resolutions elsewhere in Hampton Roads. Earlier this month, Virginia Beach authorities issued a Critically Missing Adult Alert for a 78-year-old man who had walked away on foot; he was found safe hours later after the alert went out across the region, Hoodline previously reported. No such update has been issued for Clark as of this writing, and police continue to ask the public to call rather than post tips on social media.
