- Joined
- Feb 6, 2019
- Messages
- 13,509
- Reaction score
- 61,319
NCMEC
Have you seen this child? Jonathan Romane Lyman
Missing From: Defuniak Springs, FL. Missing Date: July 5, 2025. .
www.missingkids.org
Project Cold Case: Serving Okaloosa & Surrounding Counties
Jonathan Lyman Missing Teen *AUTISTIC * July 4, 2025 It absolutely breaks my heart that yet another family is left clinging to silence where answers should be. The National Center for Missing and...
www.facebook.com
Jonathan Lyman
Missing Teen *AUTISTIC *
July 4, 2025
It absolutely breaks my heart that yet another family is left clinging to silence where answers should be.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has issued a missing child alert for 17-year-old Jonathan Romane Lyman — a high-functioning autistic teen whose diagnosis, while often misunderstood, does not mean he is equipped to navigate the dangers of the world alone. Like any child, he is still learning, still vulnerable, and still deserving of protection.
Jonathan was last seen in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, on July 4, 2025, while visiting family who live off County Highway 181 West. Sometime between midnight and 9:00 a.m., he is believed to have left their home on the family’s golf cart. That golf cart was later found abandoned on Finks Mill Road, just across the Alabama line, after someone called it in between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m.
Then, at approximately 9:30 a.m., a signal from Jonathan’s cell phone pinged about six miles north of Highway 89 in Alabama. Since then — nothing. No confirmed sightings. No direction of travel. No word on what he may have been wearing.
Jonathan may need medical attention. His family, now gripped by fear and heartache, is desperate for answers — for any sign that their boy is out there, waiting to be brought home.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office in Florida and the Covington County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama continue to work together on this case.
Please — look at his face. Read his name again. Share his story. This child is loved. He matters. And someone, somewhere, knows something.
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Online Services
December 30, 2025
*****
“Our whole life revolved around Jonathan,” Jonathan’s mother said in an interview with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office. “He is our only child. Just Jonathan’s presence makes the world a better place.”
It is still unknown where Jonathan was traveling. It is also unknown what he was wearing when he disappeared, other than a pair of black boots.
*****
Covington County Sheriff Blake Turman tells WDHN that since early July, deputies, investigators, volunteers, and possemen have searched the county and miles of dense forest. Still, no sign of Jonathan has been found.
Dive teams have also searched Lake Jackson in Florala, and drones, K9s, and helicopters have been brought out to assist in the search.
*****
