The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has added an Endangered/Missing Child Alert for a Greenwood teenager who has been missing since February.
Greenwood Police Chief Terrence Craft said Monday that the MBI had updated its listing on Tykwon Smith to include him as an endangered child, even though the 16-year-old has been in the state’s system since he went missing.
Smith, a student at Amanda Elzy High School, is a Black male, standing approximately 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds.
He went missing early the morning of Feb. 15 after he fled Greenwood Leflore Hospital. He was last seen around 3:30 a.m. on the 1400 block of River Road, near to the hospital, wearing a blue T-shirt and gray shorts.
Posters with the photo of Smith have been displayed on trees along Grand Boulevard and other streets throughout town since March.
Craft said there had been no updates on the case as of Monday.
According to family, Smith suffers from schizophrenia and was brought into the hospital to be treated for a paranoid episode. His family said that his medical condition may impair his judgment.
Surveillance camera footage from the hospital showed that Smith took off some of his clothes and fled toward the bank of the Yazoo River behind the hospital.
Members of the community have stepped up to help with the search.
Larry “Kite” Johnson and his wife, Freddie White-Johnson, friends of Smith’s family, have sponsored a $1,000 reward for finding the teen.
Sammy Foster, a former hospital board member, and Mildred Wilson-Moore, a retired Greenwood High School teacher, have also contributed to the reward.
MBI is encouraging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Smith to contact the Greenwood Police Department at 453-3311.
- Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW. Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
