Family joins search for missing Bragg soldier

Sgt. Carl Seeman is a member of the 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery. His unit was conducting training at Fort Bragg and was deployed Monday to the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

Seeman's 2002 Nissan Frontier pickup was found Sunday in the parking lot of a Walmart on Gillespie Street in Fayetteville. Police said his cellphone was in the truck.

The Army has deemed him AWOL.

"He was excited to leave for training. He was looking forward to it. This is very out of character. He never would have missed out on leaving for the opportunity to go down to Louisiana," his mother, Jennifer Seeman, said Friday.

Carl Seeman's parents, grandfather and uncle drove 12 hours from their homes outside Rochester, N.Y., to try to find him. They said he he always stayed in touch, which is why his disappearance has them worried.

"Watched him grow up, watched him go off to the Army, go off to war. Now, it seems like we're fighting the biggest war of all is getting him back," said his grandfather, Jim Maloney.

Seeman, 25, is the oldest of six siblings, and his father said his disappearance has been tough on them.

"Everybody looks up to him. Whether they're mad at him, whether it's in good times, bad times, he's a leader," said his father, James Seeman.

Investigators said they're using his cellphone to track Seeman's whereabouts before he went missing and are interviewing people he talked with before his disappearance.

Foul play is not suspected in his disappearance, they said.

His mother issued an emotional plea for his return.

"If you are able and capable of reaching out to me, just please do so," she said. "I don't care if it's Facebook Messenger, a phone call, an email. Meet me at our spot."