Kevin Hornburg has been missing from Jamestown, New York since November 2021

“He wouldn’t miss Thanksgiving dinner,” Susan Baldwin told Dateline about her brother, 57-year-old Kevin Hornburg. “If he was invited, he would be there. And he would take half a pie home.”

On Wednesday, November 24, 2021 – the night before Thanksgiving – Susan says she received a call from her brother Bobby Hornburg, who told her no one had seen Kevin since Sunday, November 21. “Bobby thought I might have come to Jamestown. and grabbed it,” she said.

According to Susan, Bobby had been living in Kevin’s apartment in Jamestown, New York for the past few months. She also said Michael Brown, a family friend, stayed at the apartment for about a month. Susan told Dateline that Brown was the last person to see Kevin that day around 4 p.m.

“Mike Brown said Kevin just got off the porch and never came back,” she said, adding that he told her Kevin had left the apartment to find spare wood he needed to repair someone’s window. “It’s likely Kevin would,” Susan said.

Dateline attempted to contact Brown but was unsuccessful.

It was snowing when Bobby called Susan that Wednesday evening. “’I can’t drive in the dark during a snowstorm. It’s snowing outside, it’s dark – and I’m coming to find Kevin tomorrow,” she tells her brother. “I didn’t know it would be urgent and thought Kevin would probably show up again.”

Kevin is one of six siblings and has a daughter of his own. Susan says it was very unusual for him to disappear without alerting anyone. “He loves family,” she said. “He loves being with us.”

Susan says she made the 25-minute drive from her home to Jamestown on Thanksgiving morning to help search for Kevin. The family reported him missing later that day.

Kevin’s family continued to search for him on their own over the next few days. According to Susan, she and a few other family members searched abandoned buildings in the Jamestown area. “I didn’t know what to do,” Susan said. “I had no idea how to look for him or anything.”

About a week and a half into the search for Kevin, Susan received a call from Merry Williams, founder of an organization called WNY Missing & Unidentified Persons, which helps search for missing people in Western New York. “Merry called and said, ‘Do you want help?’ I said, ‘Of course I would,’” Susan told Dateline. “So then she got her whole group together.”

Merry has been leading the community-organized searches for Kevin since December 2021. “It is my honor and privilege to help Kevin’s family. They have become like an extended family,” she wrote in an email to Dateline. “I have promised them that we will continue their efforts until he is located. & I intend to keep that promise wherever I can.”

According to Susan, Jamestown police also organized their own searches.

In January 2022 – about two months after Kevin went missing – Jamestown police posted about his disappearance Facebook. “Kevin A. Hornburg was last seen leaving his home on Prendergast Ave. 629 in Jamestown on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at approximately 4:00 PM,” the post said. “Since that date, Hornburg has not been seen or accessed his finances.”

The department added that the investigation was “ongoing and foul play is suspected.” Susan told Dateline that the family also strongly believes there was foul play in Kevin’s disappearance.

Dateline has contacted the Jamestown Police Department multiple times to speak with an officer familiar with Kevin’s case, but has not heard back.

Susan described Kevin as physically fragile and said he had been in a coma for about three months before his disappearance. “I don’t know what caused the coma,” she told Dateline. “I do know that at that time, in August, he slept for ten days.” She said she tried to care for her brother after he was released from the hospital. “I tried to get him to come back to my house,” she told Dateline. Finally, Kevin decided to go back to his own apartment.

Three months later, Kevin was still weak. “He used a cane because, you know, his legs were really swollen when he was in a coma,” Susan said. “So they hurt a lot.”

A lot has happened in the family in the three years since Kevin disappeared.

About a year ago, the Hornburg siblings suffered the loss of their brother Danny. This year, Kevin’s daughter married and he became a grandfather of two children.

Susan says she and the rest of the family have little hope that Kevin is alive, but they still haven’t given up the search for him. “Closing it would be nice,” Susan said. “We would like to see at least part of his body returned to us so we can put him away.”

According to the 2022 Facebook post by the Jamestown Police Department, Crime Stoppers WNY is offering a reward of up to $2,500 “for information leading to the arrest or indictment of the person(s) responsible for the disappearance and/or murder of Kevin Hornburg .”

Kevin would be 60 years old today. He is 6 feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds. He has brown eyes and, at the time of his disappearance, brown hair. According to his sister, he has a tattoo of a cross on his left forearm and an unknown tattoo between his left index finger and thumb.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Jamestown Police at 716-483-7537. Anonymous tips can also be left at the department’s Anonymous Tip Line at 716 483-TIPS (8477).

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