UT Student – Clues Few to Missing Youth

by Mike Cox

The roommate of 18-year-old Jeffrey Allen Konen, University of Texas student who disappeared Friday, said Tuesday that the missing youth “is not the kind of guy to do anything unusual,” Austin and Houston police late Tuesday night reported no new leads in the disappearance of Konen, whose home is in Houston. John Lopez, the missing student’s roommate, said he last saw Konen at a Houston intersection where a third University student let Lopes off after giving the pair a ride from Austin. Tuesday, after news stories had appeared regarding Konen’s disappearance, the man who gave the hitchhiking pair a ride to Houston contacted police and the American-Statesman. He said he dropped Konen off about 15 minutes after letting Lopez, also 18 out of his car at San Felipe and Voss Road.

According to Houston police, the case first was handled by missing person’s detectives but has since been handed over to the homicide detail. Lopez said the driver of the car, Bruce LeGrand, 20, a junior at UT, dropped Konen off at the intersection of Westheimer and Voss Road on the far outskirts of the Bayou City. “That would have been about four miles from where Jeffrey lives in Houston,” Lopez said. He added that the 18-year-old planned to catch another ride to his house.