ST. AUGUSTINE – Police are still looking for a missing 71-year-old priest, but have called off a large-scale search of a rural area in northeast Florida.
The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Sunday night discontinued its search for Father Rene Wayne Robert in the Baldwin area. The St. Augustine-based priest disappeared last week.
Police arrested 28-year-old Steven James Murray after he was found driving Robert’s car in Aiken, South Carolina. Authorities said they believe Robert had been ministering to Murray.
Robert is a senior priest and a Franciscan, known in St. Augustine for helping the poor, drug addicted and disabled.
Robert’s brother and sister have come to Florida from New York to aid in the search, and attended a prayer vigil for him on Saturday.
