Visually-impaired Jefferson County man missing 1 month; family desperate to know he’s OK

Visually-impaired Jefferson County man missing 1 month; family desperate to know he’s OK

It’s been one month since Curtis Taylor’s family has heard from him, and they are desperate to know where he is and if he’s OK.

The 24-year-old Taylor is visually impaired, and family said it’s not like him to go this long without communicating with them.

Taylor was last seen Feb. 6 when he told his mother, Kathy Gregory, that he was going to spend some time with his father. Both parents live in the Center Point area, Taylor at the time was living with his mother.

Gregory assumed that’s where he was, but when she hadn’t heard from him in two weeks, she reached out and learned he had not gone to his father’s home.

Gregory said his phone is turned off and going straight to voicemail. Family members have checked with shelter and hospitals without any success.

Gregory filed a missing person’s report with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and hoping detectives will be able to use their investigative tools to find him.

“I don’t know if he’s OK or not,’’ she said.

Taylor is legally blind but has some sight. He attended the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind.

Last year, Gregory said, Taylor left home without telling anyone and went to Talladega. His family went there two days later to pick him up.

“I think he has mild depression from his vision, which worsened last year, and he went there because he said he wanted to be around people who understand what he’s going through,’’ she said.

“I don’t know if he felt like he was a burden because he’s been so independent,’’ Gregory said. “That’s how I raised him – just because you have a disability, that does not define you.”

Family members have checked in Talladega, but still to no avail.

“I think somebody picked him because he can’t drive,’’ Gregory said.

Gregory said it’s tough because Taylor is an adult and has the right to go where he wants to go. Still, the family is worried.

“If he’s somewhere he wants to be,’’ she said, “I just want him to call home and say, ‘I’m OK.’’’

Anyone with information on Taylor’s whereabouts is asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 205-325-1450.