THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260514
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Robert Wese stared in silence as the plea to his missing son trailed across the Virginia Beach sky on Thursday behind a red and white plane:
``ADAM WESE . . . COME HOME . . . WE LOVE YOU. . . DAD,'' the banner read.
Adam Wese, 16, was reported missing Jan. 18 after being seen at a bus stop near his home in the 800 block of Little Bay Ave. in Norfolk. Wese last saw his son about 6 a.m. that day.
``This is the worst thing I've ever been through in my life,'' he said, sucking in some cool air. ``I'm going to do anything and everything to get my son back.''
That has included posting fliers with Adam's picture and description everywhere from movie theaters and convenience stores to the tops of pizza delivery boxes.
The idea to use a plane - at about $125 an hour - came from a friend. At 12:45 p.m. the plane from Atlantic Aerial Ads in Chesapeake flew over Princess Anne High, where Adam attended classes until October. Wese had planned to have the plane circle over Granby High in Norfolk, where Adam transferred, but flight plan restrictions canceled that.
For Wese, a former Marine who now works as a wholesaler for a local car company, the past week has been one full of empty hopes and sleepless nights. He's taken time off from work to search for his son full time.
Adrenaline and prayer have helped him cope.
``I've gotten calls from friends, people I haven't talked to in years,'' said Wese, 43. ``I've been on my knees many times and prayed to God that it will end soon.''
A few days ago, he consulted two psychics.
The first told him Adam was alive, but in danger, some 50 miles to the north. The psychic predicted he would return home with help from the police.
The second psychic told Wese that his son was dead.
``I was almost devastated,'' Wese said. ``It was like someone put a blade in my stomach and turned it around a couple times. But I know my son's alive.''
Police have been searching for the boy all week, but so far nothing has turned up, he said.
Wese, who also has an 18-year-old son, is not sure what happened to Adam. Someone, he said, could have lured him away.
A day before Adam disappeared, the boy broke up with a girlfriend from Bayside High, his father said. The breakup may have left his son shaken.
``He's an impressionable type of guy,'' he said.
Adam, who is enrolled in the ninth grade, has a slight learning disability. He moved in with his father in October after living with his mother in Virginia Beach. His parents have been divorced since 1990.
Two days before Adam disappeared, his father said he spoke with his teachers, the assistant principal and the school psychologist at Granby High about Adam's progress.
``They had nothing but great things to say,'' Wese said.
But he said his son had recently been depressed.
``I know I can state for a fact he was in depression and always thinking, never feeling like he was worthy,'' Wese said.
Wese said Adam wrote poetry that often dealt with ``darkness and death.''
Shortly after the boy was reported missing, Norfolk police said they were looking for possible ties between the disappearance and the recent arrest of self-proclaimed vampire Jon C. Bush of Virginia Beach, who is being held in jail.
Police found no evidence to connect the two, and Wese has discounted the theory. ``I don't think there is any connection,'' he said.
Just dealing with the disappearance and the investigation has been overwhelming, Wese said.
``I just love my son so much I just want him back today,'' he said.
``I just can't give up.'' MEMO: Anyone with information is asked to call Bob Wese at 480-2294, Linda
Wese at 486-5631 or Norfolk police at 664-7000.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Hoping it will help reunite him with his son, Adam, left, Robert
Wese paid for a plane to fly the banner behind him. It reads ``ADAM
WESE . . . COME HOME . . . WE LOVE YOU . . . DAD.'' The 16-year-old
was last seen Jan. 18.
Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
Robert Wese walks past Norfolk's Granby High School on Thursday,
where his son, Adam, had transferred last year from Princess Anne
High in Virginia Beach. The banner that Wese rented was flown over
the Beach school, but flight restrictions canceled plans to fly it
over Granby High.
KEYWORDS: MISSING CHILD by CNB