Jaylen and Javere Powell, two brothers ages 15 and 13 respectively, have been missing from their Detroit home since July 26, according to their father Joe Powell.
Powell said the teens quarreled over completing household chores before leaving their west Detroit home at 6:40 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. Reportedly, neither teen wanted to complete their chores, so they left the house to avoid doing them. “They ran away — literally, down the street,” he said. The boys didn’t take any money or clothes with them when they left.
Powell and the police are currently searching for the teens, who left their 11-year old brother behind. Updates and alerts are being posted regularly to the police department’s social media pages, and officers are reportedly pursuing several leads. Police say the boys were involved in an altercation a few blocks away after they left home.
In Detroit, around 3,000 missing person calls are made each year. In many cases, runaway teens show up back at home the next day. In recent years, run-aways have gotten younger, and it is not uncommon for kids between the ages of 12 and 13 to run away.
Powell says he thinks he knows where the boys might be, but is not certain. “With everything that’s going on right now, that’s the last thing I would want any parent to go through,” he said.
Jaylen and Javere are both about 5 feet 1 in height. Jaylen has a small build and braids, while his brother Javere has a medium build and small Afro.
Joe Powell described not knowing where his children are as a “horrible feeling.” He spends all of his time either thinking about where his sons might be or searching for them. The boys’ mother is no longer alive.
“I think they are are hiding from me,” he said. “But they went too far.”
