JACKSONVILLE, Fla — A local rapper, Royal Francis, whose real name is Robert McLaughlin remains missing more than seven years since he disappeared in September 2017.
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His car and belongings were found at his apartment near College Park; however, he vanished without a trace.
No arrests were ever made following his disappearance.
Eight years is long enough for his mother, Angela McLaughlin, to demand answers, whatever they may be.
“They’re going to have to give me something definite like finding bones or his remains. I need something definite like that to feel closure,” said Angela.
Robert McLaughlin was 35 years old and last seen on September 25, 2017, at 10 PM at his apartment at The Place at Capper Landing near College Park.
His mother said a neighbor saw him get into a car that night.
“He said it was a black charger car that came up. He argued with them on the steps before they told him to get into the car. He left with them and went to a corner store.”
She adds the camera footage at the corner store showed Robert then getting into a truck.
Angela Mclaughlin believes her son’s missing persons case received very little attention from police and investigators which she says sends a message that black men and women can “fall off the face of the planet, and that is ok.”
“They said he was of age and probably just did not want to be bothered. Everybody wanted to assume that he was into drugs, or he was a bad person, but that was never the case with him.”
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told Action News Jax this case remains an active investigation, and it was never highlighted or featured by the office as a cold case. They add they do not typically highlight missing persons cold cases, but that does not mean they will not feature this case in the future.
Angela McLaughlin said her son had a traumatic brain injury three years before he disappeared, but that did not cause him to forget who he was or where he was going- just events around the time of the accident when he was hit and seriously injured by a semi-trailer tractor.
If you have any information on this case, you are encouraged to call the authorities.
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