Police Seek Missing Bowie State Student

18-Year-Old Hasn't Been Seen Since Saturday, Family and Friends Say

Julian McCormick, 18, was supposed to pick up his girlfriend Saturday, his family said. (Courtesy Of Wrc-tv4)

Prince George's County police are investigating the disappearance of a Bowie State University student whose family and friends have not heard from him since late last week.

Julian McCormick, 18, left campus about noon Saturday to go to the University of Maryland in College Park to pick up his girlfriend, Flor Orellana-Diaz, friends and family members said. When he failed to meet her and did not return calls, Orellana-Diaz called his parents, James and Peggy McCormick, who filed a missing-person report the next day.

"It's not like him to go off. . . . He's never done that before," said Peggy McCormick, who has been calling hospitals and even the Maryland medical examiner's office looking for her son. "We just want him back home."

Police said McCormick was last seen leaving Bowie State in his blue Honda Civic. Officers began investigating about 7 p.m. Sunday. Police have categorized the teenager as a "noncritical missing person" because they have found no signs of foul play.

Investigators conducted a helicopter search of the Bowie State area early this week and of the route he probably would have taken to College Park but said they found nothing suspicious.

"They are just basically trying to find out where he may be by backtracking where he was to where he was heading, and trying to find anyone who may have seen him," Officer Henry Tippett said.

James McCormick said his son has contacted no relatives or friends. His cellphone and ATM card have not been used, McCormick said.

McCormick, a June graduate of Laurel High School, registered for one class at Bowie State this semester so he could join the marching band, his mother said. He plays the sousaphone and the saxophone. Although he aspires to become a marine biologist, he decided to start college slowly, Peggy McCormick said.

At Laurel High yesterday, fliers were posted asking for information on the teenager's whereabouts. His parents spent hours at Bowie State on Tuesday handing out fliers. They planned to canvass the College Park campus last night.

Bowie State University Police Chief Ernest L. Waiters said students told his officers that McCormick worked out with friends on campus and had breakfast with them Saturday morning before he left in his car, which has not been found.

"The students he was with said there was no trouble, no arguments, no fights and that he was happy and in a good mood," Waiters said.

Orellana-Diaz, 18, said she last saw McCormick when he took her back to her dorm at 3 a.m. Saturday after they saw a late movie and got a bite to eat. She said he told her he was planning to spend the night in his band section leader's dorm room, but instead he spent the night in his car on the Bowie campus. "We have no idea why he did that," she said.

She said she talked to him at 11 a.m. and he told her he would pick her up by 11:30 to take a payment to a Laurel car dealership. She phoned him and sent text messages several times but never heard from him again, she said.

McCormick is black, 6 feet tall, 175 pounds and has a medium-brown complexion. His car has a Maryland temporary tag number of 83870A, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Prince George's County Police Crime Solvers at 301-735-1111.