Police: Missing Stafford Man's Phone Detected in Maryland Park

Images: Lance Calvin Buckley; Lance Buckley, his wife Amy and their two children (Stafford County Sheriff’s Office).

Police traced a phone belonging to a missing Stafford man to a Maryland park on Wednesday, but they found no sign of him, according to the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office.

Lance Calvin Buckley, 33, was reported missing by his family on Tuesday evening. He was last seen by family members at 8 a.m. Tuesday, when he was dropped off at the Staffordboro commuter lot, where he usually “slugs” (carpools with a stranger) to Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Buckley is enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Howard and is scheduled to graduate on Saturday.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Buckley’s phone “was electronically located, very briefly, in the area of Blockhouse Point Conservation Park” in Montgomery County, Md., the Stafford sheriff’s office said. The park overlooks the Potomac River near Darnestown, Md., in the western part of the county.

“The Montgomery County Police Department initiated a search in that area, but he was not located,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that the investigation is continuing.

On Tuesday, Buckley was on his way to pick up his graduation packet for the ceremony on Saturday. His wife Amy said she received a text message from her husband at about 10:16 a.m. Tuesday from the area of Howard University. The contents of the text indicated it was from Lance Buckley, according to the sheriff’s office.

However, he did not show up for a scheduled meeting at noon Tuesday at the university, and his family has had no contact with him since the 10:16 a.m. text. It is out of character for Buckley to not keep in contact with his family during the day, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

Lance Buckley is described as a white male, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds with brown hair. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a dark-colored T-shirt and gray Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers, the sheriff’s office said.

Anyone who has seen him or knows his whereabouts is asked to contact the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office at 540-658-4400, call Crime Solvers at 540-659-2020 (callers may remain anonymous) or TEXT “Stafford” + your tip to CRIMES (274637).