A Mississippi State University student from Greenwood who had been missing for almost a week was found safe in North Carolina on Friday.
Aashil Randive, 21, was located at a motel in Greensboro Friday evening, a day after Oktibbeha County authorities had issued a missing person alert for the engineering student.
“He is in good condition,” said Lt. Brett Watson of the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department.
Greensboro police located Randive at a local motel around 7 p.m. Friday and checked in with the student, determining he was safe and in good health.
Reports of his disappearance spread widely Friday on social media, with friends, neighbors and classmates sharing photos and a description of Randive’s car in hopes of locating the student.
While reports circulated widely in Mississippi, it was a credit-card purchase in the North Carolina city that ultimately allowed authorities to locate Randive in Greensboro, Watson said.
Oktibbeha County authorities began looking for Randive after his family reported that he had not returned home for summer vacation as expected. He had last been seen at his Starkville apartment last Saturday, shortly after wrapping spring semester courses, and hadn’t been heard or seen until located by Greensboro police.
Watson said he wasn’t sure why Randive had traveled more than 600 miles to North Carolina.
An officer with the Greensboro Police Department said police there had checked up on Randive but hadn’t inquired further.
Watson said authorities would not be looking any further into the case.
“He’s 21 years old; he’s able to go where he pleases,” Watson said. “Once they were able to confirm his safety and well-being, we didn’t ask any questions further than that.”
Randive’s family could not be reached for comment. Before he was located, his mother, Preetika Randive, said she’d grown concerned after he didn’t arrive back in Greenwood last weekend.
A 2012 graduate of Pillow Academy, Randive had just completed his junior year at Mississippi State, where he is working toward a degree in mechanical engineering.
•Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
