Perth residents told to check backyards, sheds and security cameras for missing man

Perth residents have been asked to check their backyards, sheds and security cameras as the search for a missing 24-year-old intensifies.  

Police fear Jin Hee Egan Chong, who lives with autism and vanished on Saturday morning from Shelley in the city’s south, may be without food and water. 

State Emergency Service volunteers scoured through bushland on Sunday looking for the man.

“With the autism, he's got the capability of a 10-year-old,” Inspector Mo Livingstone said.

Chong, who is non-verbal, was with his carers when he walked off wearing black slippers, charcoal grey pants and a navy blue top.

He was last seen near Riverton Drive East walking towards Willeton.

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He is known to walk long distances and may frequent public transport, shopping centres and post offices. 

“He doesn't have access to water or food, and he may not even realise he needs to drink water or take food,” Livingstone said. 

The Public Transport Authority was reviewing CCTV due to a belief he might have caught the train to Yanchep.

“He's got a shop up there he likes to frequent, where he gets magazines, comics, that sort of stuff,” Livingstone said.

Chong had a backpack with a mobile phone and tracking devices inside but it was left at the scene. 

Police asked members of the public to check their backyards and cameras.

“Please do not approach Jin, but contact police because he does not cooperate well with strangers and it may scare him and spook him,” Livingstone said.

The 24-year-old has been missing before.

In 2023, tradies found him at a construction site 48 hours later and 15 kilometres away from where he’d last been seen.