Family, friends of missing 20-year-old offering $500 reward for information

Jaren Ragland, 20, is missing, location and date unspecified | Photo courtesy of Stephanie Forsyth Ragland, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Santa Clara Police are searching for a missing Hurricane man who was last seen at St. George Regional Hospital early Wednesday morning.

Photo of missing 20-year-old Jaren Ragland, location and date unspecified | Photo courtesy of Stephanie Forsyth Ragland, St. George News

Jaren Ragland, 20, was seen with friends in the parking lot of Harmons at approximately 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Santa Clara-Ivins Sgt. Reed Briggs told St. George News.

Following an incident in the parking lot, Ragland was taken by ambulance to the hospital and later discharged. His car was left in the Harmons parking lot, and Ragland did not return.

“Video at the Harmons showed someone — I don’t know if it was male or female — get in the car between 7:40 and 8 a.m.,” Briggs said. “We see someone opens the door, gets in the car and drives away. We have some view of the street, and we can see that they don’t go west. It looks like they go east back toward St. George.”

Briggs added that Ragland’s friends have his cell phone, wallet and keys, so police have no way of contacting Ragland or tracking his whereabouts.

Jaren Ragland’s car, a black 1997 Toyota Camry, was driven away from Harmon’s in Santa Clara, Utah on June 9, 2021 | Photo courtesy of Stephanie Forsyth Ragland, St. George News

Police and family members are asking the public to be on the lookout for a black 1997 Toyota Camry with a license plate number VO3 1CW. Ragland is described as Caucasian, 110 pounds with blue eyes and dyed black hair. He was last seen wearing a white button-down shirt under a black and white striped long-sleeve T-shirt, black jeans and black Converse shoes. He has a tattoo on his right forearm.

Ragland’s family and friends are offering a $500 reward to anyone with information. Anyone with information is asked to call the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department at 435-652-1122.

On Friday, according to police and Ragland’s family, Ragland managed to message his sister on Instagram Friday morning. He was very evasive, Santa Clara-Ivins Sgt. Jaron Studley told St. George News, but the message mentioned that he was in a library parking lot “far, far away.”

Police searched every library in Washington County but were unable to locate Ragland or his car. Ragland seems to not want to be contacted, Studley said.

Ragland is still registered on the national missing person’s database and will remain there until police or family make physical contact with him, Studley said. Anyone with information about Ragland’s whereabouts is asked to call the Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department.

Update, June 11, 2:19 p.m., Information about the search on Friday was added.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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