Robert Ray Ely was 17 years old when he was last reported seen in Johnson City, Tennessee, on July 1, 2022. Public missing-person listings connected to NamUs case MP93981 identified him as a male teenager from the Johnson City area of Washington County, Tennessee, and listed his physical description as approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall and 150 pounds, with black hair and blue eyes. The available public description of the disappearance was very limited, stating only that he had not been seen since that date, leaving the early part of the case defined more by uncertainty than by detailed public explanation.
The case appears to have entered the public record through national missing-person systems and local law-enforcement channels, with the Johnson City Police Department identified in the case information as the investigating agency. NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, serves as a national clearinghouse and case-support resource for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed person cases, and cases like Robert's are generally used to preserve identifying information, last-contact details, and investigative agency information in a centralized place. In Tennessee, missing-person information is also supported through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Missing Persons Clearinghouse, which exists to help local, state, and national efforts identify and assist in missing-person cases.
Because Robert was a juvenile when he disappeared, the limited details available publicly would have carried a serious emotional weight for those who knew him. A missing teenager's case often leaves family, friends, and the surrounding community searching for answers while law enforcement works from the last confirmed point of contact. In Robert's case, the public record did not provide a detailed narrative about where he was going, who he may have been with, whether he left voluntarily, or what specific circumstances led to the report. What was publicly available centered on the essential facts: his name, age, physical description, the Johnson City location, and the July 1, 2022 last-seen date.
The attached case data indicates that Robert Ray Ely's case resolution status is Alive, meaning he has been found alive and this is no longer an active missing-person case. The exact date he was located is not provided in the available information, so the resolution can only be described generally rather than tied to a specific recovery date. The case began as the disappearance of a 17-year-old boy from Johnson City, Tennessee, whose public missing-person record contained very few details beyond his last known date and identifying information, and it ended with the most important outcome possible: Robert was found alive. Overall, Robert Ely's case stands as a resolved missing-person case that began on July 1, 2022, in Johnson City, was documented through missing-person systems and law-enforcement records, and is now closed as a case in which the missing young man was located alive.
Last Seen: Jul 01, 2022
