LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — A Little Rock father left home to buy some ingredients to make tacos and never returned.
Days later, his vehicle is found and the bags of food are still inside.
So where is he? It's a question his family desperately wants the answer to.
Alan Buckels Sr. was last seen on surveillance footage at Edwards Food Giant on Friday, Dec. 18 in the afternoon.
Since then his son, Alan Buckels Jr., said his family has been searching daily, for over a week now, with many questions and not a lot of answers.
"I don't even know how to feel, it still seems unreal, but I'm making it. I've got to," he said.
Alan Buckels Jr. can't find the words to describe his emotions as he continues to wait for his dad to walk through their front door.
"I lost my mom in 2005 and so holidays have always been kind of tough since then, so this has put the icing on the cake," he said.
His dad, Alan Buckels Sr., was last seen one week before Christmas at the Edwards Food Giant on Cantrell Road. Buckels Jr. said he was grabbing some ingredients to make tacos.
But as hours and then days passed, Buckels Jr. started to worry because this was highly uncharacteristic of his "creature of habit" dad.
"I texted my aunt Sunday to see if he was still over there, assuming that's where he was. She said she hadn't heard from him in a while and he wasn't over there. That's when I started getting concerned," he said.
According to Buckels Jr., the missing person's report was filed and on Tuesday the 63-year-old's van was found in Murray Park on its own, with no sign of Buckels Sr., but the car locked with his phone and belongings inside.
"The groceries were still in the van and the receipt was in there, said he checked out of Edwards at 3:24 p.m. on Friday," he said.
10 days after Buckels Sr. was last seen, the Little Rock Police Department continued their search with the Arkansas State Police at Murray Park.
As for the family, they continue to wait in agony.
"We just want him back, for sure," Buckels Jr. said.
The family will continue to meet at Murray Park every morning at 7 a.m. until they find him. They said anyone is welcome to help.
Starting Tuesday, Game and Fish officers will join Little Rock Police in the search.
So far, police say they haven't seen anything suspicious about his disappearance.