Elmhurst resident, UA exec last seen Aug. 6 still missing; Group search nets no results; Facebook page launched

By Dee Longfellow

For The Elmhurst Independent

Last week, the Independent brought its readers the news that an Elmhurst resident who is an executive for United Airlines, had been missing for more than a week. At press time, he still had not been found.

According to several news outlets, Jake Cefolia, 49, United Airlines senior vice president of worldwide sales, was last seen on Thursday, Aug. 6, and was reported missing on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Illinois law enforcement, local police, K-9 units and more than 100 volunteers came out to search for Cefolia near the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Lemont, where his vehicle had been found. The location is near the United Airlines global headquarters.

Friends told Forest Preserve District authorities that he often went for a run in that particular forest preserve location.

Cefolia’s friends and family have organized separate searches on their own for him and have established a Facebook page that currently has more than 700 members who share notes on the results of their searches. Someone posted on the Facebook page that a pair of eyeglasses had been found on a bench about halfway into the Preserve. While Cefolia indeed wore glasses, it could not be confirmed whether or not the pair that was found belonged to him.

Another Facebook post indicated there had been no organized search since Aug. 14 and that another should be put together sooner rather than later.

When it was learned Mr. Cefolia was missing, DuPage County Forest Preserve District Chief David Peterson told news outlets that officials were unsure whether or not he might be found somewhere in the forest preserve.

Anyone with information about Cefolia is asked to call the Elmhurst Police Department at 630-530-3050.

For updates to this story, visit theindependentnewspapers.com.