ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – There are growing concerns about a learning-disabled worker at an iconic south St. Louis County restaurant. Tuesday, June 13, marks a week since he disappeared.
There’s still hope that anyone can help bring him home.
His loved ones said surveillance cameras confirmed that Steve Wehrman, 61, stopped at the U.S. Bank branch near the South County mall on his way to work last Tuesday morning on June 6. He never made it to work at Bartolino’s South restaurant on Lindbergh, about a mile and a half from the bank.
“Steve has been a huge part of our family here,” said Michael Saracino, owner of Bartolino’s South. “Everybody here has been concerned about him. They’re all beside themselves the same way I am: what happened?”
“As each day goes by, it’s getting worse to me,” said Marty Wehrman, Steve’s brother. “The first 2-3 days (it was) ‘Ok, he’s going to be pop up.’ Now, it’s gone on a week, and he hasn’t shown up to work.”
Saracino said Steve never missed work in more than 40 years at the restaurant.
“Missing” fliers are now posted along Lindbergh near the restaurant.
St. Louis County police are looking for him and have issued an endangered silver advisory, posting photos from his stop at the bank on social media.
Steve is 6’0” tall and weighs about 175 lbs. He has grey/brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a blue Cardinals cap, and a Ghostbusters T-shirt.
“They all know Stephen. Stephen is a very popular person,” Marty said. “He’s always rode his bicycle. He’s 61 years old. People see him walking or riding the bike.”
Steve has been known to ride his bike nearly 20 miles to Pevely in Jefferson County and the St. Louis Zoo, but he wasn’t on his bike that morning. He also did not have his cell phone with him.
Police had no update on his whereabouts as of Monday.
Marty, a retired Mehlville fire captain, said nothing is adding up.
“I mean that’s the hard part. You can’t go fix it,” he said. “You can’t get your hands on it and say, ‘Ok, we’ve got this.’ Come home, Stephen. Let’s go out and have a steak dinner someplace, Bartolino’s, and yuk it up.”
“He still has a job when he comes back, when he comes back home,” Saracino said.
If anyone has information on Steve’s whereabouts or has seen him, contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210.