The mother of a Lawrence teenager who has been missing for almost a month is hoping the Lawrence community can help her find her son after police have run out of leads.

Kuel Karbino Kuel, a 16-year-old junior at Lawrence High School, left his mother’s house with a friend on Friday, Oct. 18 and hasn’t returned since.

Kuel’s mother, Abuk Deng, said her son was spotted in Lawrence on several occasions between Oct. 18 and 24, but information she gathered from her son’s abandoned phone indicates that he may have followed a friend to Nebraska.

“I don’t know if my son is even in Kansas anymore,” Deng said.

Deng said she believes there have been investigation delays and disinterest in her son’s disappearance. Kuel is listed as missing on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation webpage, and information about his case was shared Nov. 8 on the Kansas Missing & Unsolved Facebook page.

Deng said she stopped calling Lawrence police after a dispatcher took offense at Deng’s suggestion that Kuel’s race could be a factor in how police were handling her son’s case.

According to the Black & Missing Foundation website, people of color statistically make up a demographically disproportionate percentage of people reported missing, and often receive less media coverage than non-Black victims.

“Thousands of people are reported missing every year in the U.S. and while not every case will get widespread media attention, the coverage of white victims versus minority victims is far from proportionate,” the website states.

The KBI’s website currently lists 156 missing people whose race is reported as Black, 452 whose race is reported as white, and 21 total whose race is reported as unknown, Asian/Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Alaska Native. Statewide, Kansas’ population is about 5.7% Black, according to Census data, yet Black people represent nearly 25% of people currently reported missing.

Sgt. Drew Fennelly, public information officer for the Lawrence Police Department, said officers had responded to reported sightings of Kuel on multiple occasions but had no luck in apprehending him.

“We are following the leads that we have available to us, and thus far they have yielded little to no result,” Fennelly said in an email. “It is not uncommon for runaways to be difficult to locate, and it is understandable the frustration this can cause for a parent.”

Deng said her son had experimented with alcohol and marijuana in the past, but after treatment, Kuel had tested negative for illegal substances for about a year prior to his disappearance.

In early October, however, Kuel had a setback and was discovered to have an illicit substance in his system. His mother said the two argued about the dirty test, and Deng told Kuel that if he couldn’t get back on track, he might need a fresh start by moving in with another family member.

“He’d been doing good for a whole year,” Deng said. “I was trying to get him a car by his birthday or the end of this year. Two days (after the dirty test) he left.”

Deng said she found Kuel’s cell phone after he left and discovered that he was tracking some of his friends through a location application.

Using that information, Deng found Kuel in downtown Lawrence on Oct. 19, where she spoke to him for a few minutes before Kuel got out of his mother’s car and ran off.

On Oct. 23, Deng called police to let them know she had seen her son outside of Regal Southwind movie theaters, 3433 Iowa St. Deng said police were hesitant to enter the business to look for Kuel, but Fennelly said body camera footage showed officers on the scene speaking to theater employees in an effort to locate Kuel.

Fennelly said a body cam recording shows Deng telling officers that she believes Kuel has left the theater. Information from the location app on Kuel’s phone showed that his friend had gone to a nearby residence.

Deng later said police seemed disinterested in pursuing Kuel to the next location, but Fennelly said officers immediately went to the residence, where they got little cooperation from Kuel’s friends outside the home.

“There was no hesitation to contact anyone on scene, and one of the officers demanded information from the juveniles present while educating them on the legality of harboring a runaway,” Fennelly said. (Aiding or sheltering a minor with the intent to aid the runaway in avoiding detection or apprehension is a level-8 person felony in Kansas, he said.)

During the investigation, Fennelly said, Kuel ran from the residence.

“Officers were a good distance away from Kuel, and he was able to evade them before they were able to catch up to him,” Fennelly said. “Officers remained on scene, spotted Kuel again several minutes later, and again engaged in a foot pursuit. Once again, they were not close enough to effectively follow him.”

After that date, it appeared Kuel’s friends disabled the location application. Police have not received any further information.

“It is likely that once Kuel’s friend became aware that Abuk was tracking his location, he stopped her ability to do that, and that could be the cause of the diminished leads,” Fennelly said.

Deng said she has not seen or heard from Kuel since Oct. 23.

“He has not said anything to anyone since that day,” she said.

Kuel’s disappearance is not the only crisis currently facing his family. On Jan. 27, 2023, Kuel’s aunt, 19-year-old Adhel Deng, was found shot to death inside a vehicle in Kansas City, Kansas. Several weeks later, police arrested a 25-year-old man who is now charged with first-degree murder. That case is ongoing.

As family waits for the murder trial to move forward, Kuel’s mother is now also chasing leads in her son’s disappearance. She said she believes Kuel may have gone to Nebraska, where one of his friends recently returned to live with family.

Fennelly said investigators have made contact with both local and Nebraska-based family members of Kuel’s friend, and none have reported any knowledge of Kuel’s whereabouts. He said there is no indication that Kuel has gone to Nebraska, and police have not contacted authorities there.

Kansas statutes outline specific criteria to determine whether a missing person is considered to be “high-risk.” According to Lawrence police, Kuel is a runaway who doesn’t meet the definition of high-risk. Fennelly said police will continue to follow leads as they come in and hope to resolve the case soon.

“Based on the information we have received in this case, Kuel is not in any known immediate danger, and by all accounts is away from home voluntarily, and actively avoiding detection,” Fennelly said. “Should we receive information that indicates his location, or should we come across him otherwise, he will be taken into custody in the same manner that any runaway would be.”

Deng said she hopes increased visibility about Kuel’s case will produce new leads for investigators. Until then, she will continue to look for her son while also working full-time and raising Kuel’s siblings as a single mother.

 “I want a better life for them,” she said. “I want them to have a future.”

Any information about Kuel’s location should be shared with the Lawrence Police Department at 785-843-TIPS (8477) or online through the KBI’s website.

Andrea Albright (she/her), reporter, can be reached at aalbright (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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