Update: Family Of Missing Vienna Native, Bishop O'Connell English Teacher Tom Duesterhaus Asks For Help

Update 9:55 a.m. June 23: For those interested in who Tom Duesterhaus is, the Arlington Catholic Herald profiled him April 27.

Duesterhaus made his lifetime commitment as a lay consecrated member of the Youth Apostles in 1999.

“Community has always been such a crucial component for me,” Duesterhaus said in the article. “If I’m in a community, then I’m part of it. I’m responsible to help build it up. I also benefit from it, but it’s not just a self-serving thing.”

Read the entire profile here. 

A group of former O'Connell students have started a Facebook group to help locate Duesterhaus, to join click here.

--

Update 12:57 a.m. June 23: Some of Tom Duesterhaus' personal property has been found in a bag on Virginia Beach, according to one of his relatives, who posted a Facebook plea for help on Wednesday night.

Duesterhaus was supposed to start a four-day retreat in Virginia Beach on Monday, the relative said.

The message reads:

"To everyone who cares for Tom Duesterhaus, my family is looking for their son/brother and can use anyone's help. Tom has been missing since Friday afternoon. Some of his personal property has been found in a bag on Virginia Beach. A man we believe to be him was sighted taking a swim in the ocean by a woman in a nearby “beach house”. He was to have begun a four day retreat there on Monday. His car, car keys, and credit card still have not been located. We have no evidence of foul play or any criminal activity. With Tom’s love of his family and his community of Youth Apostles (YA) we have to believe he will eventually contact someone unless of course he is unable to do so. Meanwhile the police, his family, including the YA, love him and continue to search, and to look for more ways to locate Tom.” If you have information to help us find him please send it to Rich@duesterhaus.net or Father.Jack@marymount.edu or the Virginia Beach or Fairfax County Police departments.

To follow developments on Twitter, look for Patch using the hashtags #findtom and #vabeach.

Vienna Native, Bishop O'Connell English Teacher Tom Duesterhaus Missing

Update 8:37 p.m.: A Vienna Patch reader says Duesterhaus was last seen driving a 1999 blue Buick LaSabre with license plate tag XMT8126.

Original: Well-known Bishop O'Connell English teacher and former O'Connell graduate Tom Duesterhaus is missing, according to numerous Facebook posts. 

The Rev. David Sharland, Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry at Marymount University, posted on his Facebook page, "My dear consecrated brother, Tom Duesterhaus is missing. None of us has heard from him since Friday. He was last seen at Virginia Beach early Saturday morning. Please flood heaven with your prayers. Lord, please send our brother back to us." 

Duesterhaus grew up in Vienna, according to his Facebook page, and graduated from Bishop O'Connell with the class of 1991. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1995, and began teaching at O'Connell in 1999, according to his page.

Friends are posting well-wishes and prayers on Duesterhaus' Facebook page

Vienna Patch will continue to follow this story as it develops.