Update: Missing 26-year-old man found safe, police say

UPDATE, 4:10 p.m. Wednesday: Joshua Shelburn has been found safe, according to the Wichita police.

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Original story:

Friends and family are seeking the public’s help to find a developmentally disabled man who has been missing since about noon Tuesday after walking away from a service agency’s Halloween party.

Joshua Shelburn was last seen at a Paradigm Services facility in the 300 block of North Wabash.

Shelburn has a rare genetic disorder called Prader-Willi Syndrome. Although he is 26, he operates at the mental level of about a 12-year-old child, said Vickie Burris, a friend of the family who has been part of the search effort and whose own daughter has the same syndrome.

“He (Shelburn) has been without his medication for five doses now,” Burris said Wednesday afternoon. “The family, friends, everybody’s been everywhere looking. We just need help.”

Shelburn lives at a Paradigm Group home in the 1300 block of North Perth.

He was at the Paradigm facility on Wabash for the Halloween party and apparently walked away after telling someone he thought the party was too loud, Burris said.

Shelburn has short black hair and brown eyes. He’s 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs between 185 and 200 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a brown camouflage colored hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and brown boots. He was carrying a green or black backpack with rope draw strings.

He has a tattoo of his name, “Shelburn,” on his upper right arm.

According to the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, the genetic disorder affects cognitive function, behavior, appetite, growth and metabolism.

It can affect someone’s ability to feel full and leads to excessive eating and, in some cases, life-threatening obesity.

Wichita police have issued missing-person alerts through Facebook, Twitter and the department’s mobile app.

Anyone who sees someone matching Shelburn’s description is being asked to call the 911 emergency line immediately.

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 6:18 AM with the headline "Update: Missing 26-year-old man found safe, police say."