Family asks for help locating missing Tampa mother

TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — The past couple of days have been heartbreaking for the Awasthi family. Matriach Anu went missing Thursday.

"I miss you so much and just want to see you again and just talk to you again and hug you again," her son Varun said Saturday.

Just about a month ago, Anu and her husband Vikas made the trip to see their sons Varun and Rohan in New York City.

"My brother was working in the city doing his internship. So, we showed her around the city. We showed her like how Rohan was doing well, he's got an internship. I showed her my new apartment, which I recently started living at because I got a new job," said Varun.

The boys were planning another trip to see their parents soon. That's why she booked an appointment at a hair salon inside the Oldsmar Wal-Mart Thursday.

"She'd made the schedule because she wanted to get ready for the boys coming next week. So I dropped her off there. When I came back, the stylist told me that she had walked away. That was such a shock," Vikas said.

He immediately dialed 911. Officers showed up to help with the search, but it wasn't the response he anticipated.

"There was also frustration because she's an adult. The cops don't just take somebody's word that she's a missing person, right. So I'm telling them she's walked away. I drove her there. She doesn't have a car. She's just walking. It's a hot day. It's really hard. It's really sunny. She's been gone for more than an hour, two hours, like we need to kick off, you know, a notice missing persons search. But the cops have the rules. They don't do that,"

It would take a full 24 hours before Anu was officially declared missing.

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office sent us this statement:

"I'm looking for her. I need to find her. I need everything that we can do to find her and it just takes that long to get all this done to actually put her down as officially missing. But you know, okay, okay, so that happened. But, then, you know, it's already been a full day, it's already been overnight," he added.

Vikas did what he could to make the first 24 hours count. He got security video showing Anu leaving Wal-Mart, crossing the parking lot. She's also caught on a nearby CVS security camera.

"And then she sort of disappears from view when she reaches Tampa Road. So that's the last time I saw her. That's the last anyone," he added. "She's walking confidently like nobody's really chasing her, she's not under any kind of attacks. She seems fine. But to me, we know she was struggling. But put on the camera, she looks fine."

While fine on the outside, Anu was struggling on the inside. Her father passed earlier this summer. Anu's family says she struggled to cope with his death, ultimately getting a depression diagnosis.

"My mom's a very social person. She's very energetic. She talks to strangers, and about like the most like random things. She just has that skill of being able to talk to them very, like playful and joking around with us all the time. And that's who my mom is. She's just like that with everyone. And, you know, she hasn't been herself recently," her son Varun recalled. "Our grandfather passed away. She's been a little bit not her usual self in terms of being friendly and energetic. And it's been really hard on her and us trying to help her get through it. But I think the thing to remember, she's always been there for us and supported us all throughout, even in our worst times. So we just want to be able to help her when she needs us now."

Her family sought help, getting her a psychiatrist to help navigate the grief.

"To those of us who have lost a parent; we know it's really hard to lose a parent. That hit her hard. She really loved her dad. And so that was a big jolt," Vikas said.

Anu was put on medication. The family is concerned now because she's gone days without that medication.

"We are still very hopeful. But currently, it's been devastating. It's been hard on all of us, but we're still trying to keep a positive mindset, trying to somehow find her," Rohan said.

Since she went missing, the community has stepped in to help. The family says they've had anywhere from 100-300 volunteers scouring the area to find her or any clues that will lead to her. The searches start early and end late. They've gone into all of the nearby businesses, asking for any video, and leaving the missing persons flier with them.

"Given this is such a severe situation, I would expect a lot of people to shy away. But I actually saw the opposite. I saw a lot of people taking initiative. I saw a lot of people, you know, staying up late night, trying to find a way to close in on any possibility that we have in finding our mother," Rohan said.

The family is still going down any avenue they can to get answers. They ask anyone who has been in the Tampa Road area near Oldsmar since 10 A.M. Thursday to try to recall if they saw her. They're especially looking for people with dashcam footage on their cars.

The family will continue their search, sun up to sun down.

If you have any leads, contact the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. Call 911 if you have an immediate sighting. Call 727-582-6200 if you have useful information.