Linda Hrevnack of Union, New Jersey, first learned her brother, Theodore “Ted” or “Teddy” Hrevnack, was missing on Dec. 31, 2021, when she received a call from Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Ted’s 2017 white Ford Explorer had been parked at Harry Harris Park in Tavernier since Dec. 29, and the police were investigating where its owner was.
“The police contacted me on Dec. 31,” she told Keys Weekly. “I’m on his driver’s license as an emergency contact. They asked me if I could reach out to him. They wanted to know if I knew where he was. I was shocked.”
Thus began a nightmare for Linda and her family, including her sister and her mother.
“My mother is 90. She just lost my father,” Linda said. “We don’t know if Ted is dead, alive, ran away, got killed. … I don’t know what to say. We’re under such distress. I don’t know what else to do.”
The next step for the Hrevnack family was to sign a missing-person report that local New Jersey police brought to them. The family was told by MCSO that local camera footage had been investigated, and Ted was last seen walking down Dove Lake Drive near Harry Harris Park at noon on Dec. 29. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and carrying a white bag.
“He is an avid walker in that park,” said Linda. “He enjoys fishing, bird watching, walking and scavenging. He tells us all the time that he picks up litter. He gets upset when people throw litter. Maybe the white bag was for that purpose?”
Though Ted grew up in New Jersey, he has lived in Tavernier for over 30 years. He is 68 years old and a retired landscaper. Ted has some health conditions including Dupuytren’s contracture, which makes many of his fingers curl up with one finger permanently pointing straight.
Linda said he calls the family often, and that during their last conversation on Dec. 27, “he seemed out of sorts. But I don’t think he was in a state of mind to take his life.”
Ted’s friend, Mariela Care, agreed that he was in a good state of mind. He is a close friend of her and her husband, and he often takes care of their dogs. She describes him as a very caring person who can’t resist a joke.
“He was always asking, ‘Do you need anything? How can I help?’” Care said.
She last spoke with him on Dec. 28, when he said he was going to help a neighbor put palms in the garbage. He had left Care a Christmas card.
“He seemed normal,” she said. “I really don’t know what happened to him unless he found the wrong people. He was a frail older man. I can’t see him picking a fight with anyone.”
Linda said the police conducted a search of Harry Harris Park and could not find Ted. She asks readers to call her at 908-265-8764 and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office’s non-emergency number at 305-289-2371 if they know anything about her brother’s disappearance or have seen anything suspicious — even if he’s popped up in any photos taken on that day.
