Miguel Segura’s elderly parents live in a village in Veracruz, Mexico, far from the staging area set up Friday as police and firefighters searched the Fox River and surrounding area for the 52-year-old man missing for more than six weeks.

“His parents are suffering because they don’t know where he is,” said Laura Mora, Segura’s cousin. “They said, ‘We want to know what happened.’”

A missing person report was filed on Nov. 29, four days after Segura was last seen, police department spokesman Sgt. Matt Jacobucci said. Relatives contacted the police after a co-worker told them Segura failed to show up for work.

Miguel Segura, who has lived in Elgin for 12 years, was last seen on Nov. 25. He is described as standing 5-foot-5, weighing about 180 pounds, and having brown eyes and black hair. Last seen in the area of State and National streets. (Segura family photo)

Police have been looking into his disappearance and put out a missing person alert, Jacobucci said. This week, they searched near Clock Tower Plaza and along the river because Segura was last seen in the area and frequented the businesses in the shopping center.

“These are the steps we take with any missing person,” Jacobucci said. But each case is different, and investigators follow wherever the leads take them, he said.

Jacobucci couldn’t say whether Segura’s disappearance is “suspicious or not suspicious,” but said police do not consider him to be a danger to himself or others. Beyond that, Jacobucci said he was limited in what he could disclose because it’s an ongoing investigation.

Segura, who is single, stands 5-foot-5, weighs about 180 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair. Last seen on Nov. 25 in the area of State and National streets, he was wearing a black/red/white Nike jacket, dark blue pants and a dark-colored baseball cap.

Investigators have spoken with friends and with people at the businesses he frequented, Jacobucci said. They’ve reviewed surveillance videos and have canvassed the area in which he was last seen.

“We know they are working on it. They’re trying to find him. We’re very grateful,” Mora said.

Mora and Segura grew up together in Mexico, she said. She now lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and came to Elgin last month to join other relatives in searching for him.

She described her cousin as a friendly, hard-working man who liked to joke around. He didn’t drive so he walked everywhere, she said.

“He didn’t give anyone problems,” Mora said, speaking in Spanish and sometimes catching herself when speaking of him in the past tense. “He didn’t hurt anyone. He was very humble.”

Segura immigrated to the U.S. in 1997, and moved to Elgin 12 years ago, Mora said. He rented a room with a local family, who came to view him as part of their family, she said.

Elgin police set up a staging area Friday near the Grand Victoria Casino as they searched the Fox River and surrounding area for Miguel Segura, an Elgin man who was last seen on Nov. 25. (Gloria Casas/The Courier-News)

While he worked hard, sometimes seven days a week, he also liked to have a few beers as he sat along the Fox River, she said. But, “even if he drank, he didn’t give anyone problems,” she said.

There are many scenarios family members have considered when thinking about what might have happened, Mora said.

“If someone saw that he had money, sometimes you think that someone did something to him and took his money,” she said.

They’ve also considered that Segura might have been taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Mora said. The family has been checking to see if his name has turned up at any of the detention facilities and they’ve contacted the Mexican government, which has been keeping track of people who’ve been deported, she said.

So far there’s been no indication he was detained, Mora said.

She’s also worried that memory loss might be involved, she said. Segura told relatives he was having memory problems and she’s concerned he might not remember where he lives, she said.

The relatives who came to Elgin to help in the search have walked the river banks, even when there was “lots of snow and lots of ice,” she said. Segura was well known at Spanky’s and a nearby laundromat, she said, but while everyone had nice things to say about him, no one has seen him lately, she said.

“We are very, very worried,” Mora said. “(His mother) says to bring him home to her.”

Anyone with information about Segura is asked to call the Elgin Police Department at 847-289-2700 or Segura’s family at 616-459-9794.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/09/elgin-man-missing-river-segura-search/