Citrus: Missing school director may have been seen

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Missing school director may have been seen

Credit card slips at two gas stations may provide clues to the whereabouts of Fred Bryant, who disappeared Monday.

Fred Bryant, the 54-year-old director of the Environmental Science Academy who has not been seen since he left for work early Monday morning in an old gray pickup truck, may have been seen Tuesday afternoon in Panama City, Fla., where authorities believe he signed his name to a gas credit card receipt at a service station.

The day before, and closer to home, the same credit card was used to pay for gas at a station in Perry, about 115 miles north of Crystal River.

Detectives with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office flew to Panama City Wednesday morning after first traveling to Perry, where a security videotape at the gas station "didn't turn up much of anything," according to Capt. Jim Cernich, who heads the Sheriff's office's criminal investigation division.

They had only slightly more luck 160 miles west of Perry in Panama City, where they showed a store clerk a photograph of Bryant.

"The clerk tentatively identified the photograph," Cernich said. "The signature appears to match that of Mr. Bryant at this point." Cernich said there was "nothing new" to report Wednesday afternoon. "We're still not making any assumptions right now," he said, "but at least we have a little guidance and direction in this investigation."

Authorities began looking for Bryant late Monday, after colleagues notified his wife, Jimmie, that he had not been at work that day. Jimmie Bryant spent part of Monday evening retracing her husband's regular route to work -- from State Road 44 near Citrus Hills to Venable Street and up U.S. 19 to Fort Island Gulf Trail. She found no sign of his gray 1980 Ford F-150 pickup truck.

By Tuesday afternoon the Sheriff's Office had issued a nationwide bulletin for law enforcement officers to be on the lookout for Bryant and the truck. The Sheriff's Office also has distributed a flier with a color photograph of Bryant and the following description: White male, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180-185 pounds, gray thinning hair. Bryant's truck has Florida tags that read WLL-739.

At home Wednesday afternoon, Jimmie Bryant said the investigation was "sort of in a standstill."

The only medical condition from which Bryant apparently suffers is hypertension, according to Cernich, who did not know how severely Bryant suffers from the condition or if he regularly takes medication.

School officials "are in correspondence with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office on a regular basis in regard to Mr. Bryant and the situation surrounding Mr. Bryant's disappearance," said assistant superintendent David Hickey.

Hickey said there are many people within the school district who have expressed an interest in helping in whatever way they could, but that even Mrs. Bryant has said that waiting is the only thing anyone can do at this time.

After they became aware of the disappearance, numerous friends reportedly traveled the route Bryant regularly took to work, looking for clues about where he or his truck may have gone.

"We have a family of 2,000 employees, and when something happens, we have 2,000 family and friends who want to help," Hickey said. Friends have stayed with Mrs. Bryant, cooked meals and helped make arrangements for other family members to come into town.

Hickey also noted that Superintendent Pete Kelly, who is out of state at a conference this week, has been kept apprised of information as it has become available. In addition to being Bryant's boss, Kelly and his wife are also friends of the Bryants, Hickey said.

"Mr. Kelly is very disturbed by this," Hickey said.

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