Family asks for public’s help in locating missing Genoa man

GENOA – A missing 42-year-old Genoa man’s family is asking for help locating him after he disappeared from his home over the weekend, leaving behind his driver’s license, phone and other personal belongings.

Daniel R. Elkinton, a truck driver, went to work in Hampshire on Friday, but did not return Monday morning, his aunt Phyllis Johnson said.

“His license, car, cigarettes and phone were all in the house as if he were called away suddenly, but he didn’t make any arrangements for someone to feed his cat, Swerve,” Johnson said in a Tuesday interview. “His cat is very special to him. It survived a fight with a coyote.”

Genoa police issued a community alert Tuesday saying Elkinton was last seen Friday about 3:45 p.m. leaving work in Hampshire. He had phone contact with a family member at 6:30 p.m. from his home in the 1000 block of North Oak Creek Drive in Genoa on Friday night.

He hasn’t been heard from since.

Johnson said she and Elkinton’s family, including his parents, Sherri and Bill Elkinton, and sister Kari are worried about him. She said Kari called the police when she didn’t hear from her brother.

Daniel Elkinton is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing red shoes, a green coat and blue jeans, authorities said.

Genoa police conducted an unsuccessful search for Daniel Elkinton about 9 a.m. Tuesday along the Kishwaukee River with more than 50 volunteers, Elkinton’s family and friends, the Genoa Police Department, the Genoa-Kingston Fire Department, the Kirkland Fire Department, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Natural Resources and the Salvation Army.

Authorities remain on the lookout for him and are asking anyone with information to call the non-emergency Genoa police number at 815-784-2526.