On May 17, 2021, Ryan Larsen walked out of the La Vista West Elementary School and disappeared.  Ryan is described as being a helpful, chatty, and creative boy. One of his sisters said he is “the kindest little boy.” Ryan is diagnosed with medical conditions that make his disappearance even more concerning.

-Ryan is believed to have left school at 11:30 a.m.

-A neighbor claims to have seen Ryan at 1:30 p.m. at the apartment complex where Ryan and his family lived.

-A resident of the apartment complex told police he saw Ryan around 1:45 p.m. near a dumpster at the apartment complex and that Ryan had an umbrella.

-The umbrella was later recovered without Ryan. 

After Ryan’s disappearance the initial search included over 100 law enforcement officers, local neighborhoods, businesses, lakes, and more. Ground searches were performed on land and in water. Local law enforcement stated that this case is still active. Information is still being gathered, data is still coming in, and the search for Ryan is not over.

Local law enforcement spoke to the media on the anniversary of his disappearance and stated that they were aware of Ryan well before he disappeared. For roughly the past two years Ryan had allegedly left his school up to six times prior to his disappearance. 

The same law enforcement who claims to know Ryan due to prior interactions, also stated that they believe Ryan would not have gone far without a fight. That seems like relevant information from a department who has interacted with Ryan.

Ryan’s mother claimed that she believed Ryan would not willingly leave with a stranger or get into a car with someone he does not know.

Local law enforcement also stated that in August of last year they issued warrants for local phone activity from the day Ryan disappeared.  Chief Bob Lausten stated, “We’ve been working with them to narrow that large batch of information down but our timeline and their timeline are two different timelines.”

Lausten also stated that, “some people have muddled the waters.”

Lausten stated, “We’ve had people that haven’t been totally forthcoming with us regarding information.” He added, “We’ve had people that have lied to us about information, so it’s been frustrating.”

Ryan was last seen at the apartment complex where he lived with his family. A neighbor from the complex spotted Ryan there at 1:30 p.m., and another sighting of him places him at the apartment complex at 1:45 p.m.

The Southfield apartment complex where Ryan lived with his mother at the time of his disappearance, is half a mile from the school where he originally disappeared. Ryan managed to make it from the school to the apartment complex.