By PAUL ANDERSON
The family of a 24-year-old suburban Chicago man who was starting a cannabis business in Orange before vanishing nearly two years ago appealed to the public Thursday for help in finding him or his assistant, who also dropped out of sight.
Nihar Mehta was last seen at his company’s warehouse at 1440 W. Taft Ave. on June 3, 2023, according to his family. The Ohio State University undergrad had been shuttling back and forth to California and was on the verge of forming his business when he abruptly disappeared.
Police also released a photo and other details about Mehta’s assistant, Manuel “Manny” Chavez Zamudio, who is a “person of interest” they believe could help with tracking down Mehta. Mehta’s family last spoke with Zamudio in August of 2023 and have not been able to contact him since.
Zamudio is 5-foot-11, weighs about 250 pounds, and has a tattoo on his left inner forearm that resembles the logo for the band Metallica, Lt. Phil McMullin said.
Anyone with information about where to find Mehta or Zamudio was asked to call police at 714-744-7571. The family has also set up an anonymous tip line at 866-591-6950 along with a website dedicated to finding him at missinginorangecounty.com.
Mehta’s parents, aunt and uncle tearfully appealed to the public at a news conference Thursday on the steps of the Orange Police Department.
“I love you, beta, please come home,” his mother, Dr. Sheetal Mehta, said.
“I really urge everybody, anybody watching this, to please contact us,” his uncle, Dr. Nilesh Mehta, said. “He’s like a son to me.”
The family’s private investigator, Joseph Dalu, said, “This is solvable. … If you have information, please reach out. Do not hesitate.”
Mehta’s mother said she had a “very, very normal” phone conversation with her son a day before he went missing.
Mehta was in frequent contact with his family, nearly always daily, they said.
“We would laugh about it,” his mother said. “Mama, once a day, not three times a day, he’d say.”
Mehta’s father, Dr. Sandeep Mehta, said his son intended to return home soon. Mehta grew up in Palatine, Illinois, and the family still lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Mehta aspired to develop healthy cannabis products with medicinal qualities, his father said.
“He was learning as he was going,” Sandeep Mehta said of his son, who shuttled back and forth from Ohio to California while pursuing a degree in business. “That’s why he was here.”
Surveillance video shows Nihar Mehta was at his warehouse at 1440 W. Taft Ave. June 3, his father said. He would live and work there, McMullin said.
The missing man’s car was found abandoned a few miles away from the warehouse in a parking lot on June 23, 2023. Surveillance video shows a man, possibly in his 20s, driving the car and leaving it there on June 12, 2023, with the keys inside and an open window.
“It was in a place where it was likely to be stolen,” his father said.
The family made a missing persons report to police in Orange on June 24, 2023, McMullin said.
Sandeep Mehta said Zamudio had family ties in Joliet, a suburb of Chicago, and they talked to him in August of 2023.
“He was in touch with us for a few days,” Sandeep Mehta said. But they have lost contact with him since then.
Zamudio said Mehta had some sort of “scuffle” with some other people, prompting Zamudio to run away, but the family is skeptical of that story.
The family believes there is another man police should question — someone they say ordered Nihar Mehta’s car removed from the warehouse and took possession of his valuables.
The family is offering a $10,000 reward for tips that can help track down the missing man.