Missing man's van found in downtown Chicago

The maroon minivan that Matthew William Anderson drove was found Sunday in Chicago.

But where is he?

The mystery of what happened to the 29-year-old Shoreview man, whose wife said he called her Friday to report that he had been kidnapped, continues. The discovery of the van is, so far, the biggest clue.

"It's awful," his wife, Amber Anderson, said Sunday morning of his disappearance.

The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office is working with the Chicago police to find Anderson, who was last seen at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Rosewood Village Condominiums in Roseville, where he is a maintenance man.

Holli Drinkwine, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said Sunday evening that the van had been found in good condition, parked in downtown Chicago.

Sunday morning, Amber Anderson said the passage of two days since Matthew's disappearance had brought no clearer idea of what happened or why. "I know he was kidnapped because he called me and told me he was kidnapped," she said. "I'm going with what he told me."

A nationwide missing-person alert was issued Saturday night for Matthew Anderson. Amber Anderson told officers that her husband called about 7 p.m. Friday and said in hushed tones that he had been kidnapped by two men and was somewhere in Iowa.

But Ramsey County Undersheriff George Altendorfer said that officers tracked the call from Matthew Anderson's cell phone to near the Wisconsin Dells.

A dispatcher with the Sauk County (Wis.) Sheriff's Office, which serves the Dells area, said they broadcast information about Anderson but were not directly involved in the search.

Amber Anderson told officers that the phone died after she heard her husband say, "No, no, no."

Matthew Anderson didn't pick up the couple's young child from day care on Friday. His wife said she knew of no reason why her husband would leave and "believes he is in peril," Altendorfer said.

Word of Matthew Anderson's disappearance was circulating Sunday at the apartment and condominium complex near the Rosedale mall where he works.

Scott Dicks, a 20-year resident of the complex, said people were "shocked something would happen. There's really no reason that we know of."

"He's just your average guy," Dicks said. "We don't believe he's got a lot of money or nothing."

Residents of the cluster of beige three-story buildings ringing a recreation center, pool and fountain described Anderson as friendly and diligent about the maintenance work.

Dicks said he thought Anderson had worked at the 200-unit Rosewood Village for about five years, and had gone about business as usual recently.

Matthew Anderson has no criminal record. He is white, wears glasses, is 6 feet 3 and weighs 200 pounds. He was driving a maroon 2001 Pontiac Montana van, with Minnesota license plate 922 DUZ.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at 651-266-7322.