A University of Rochester economics professor may be in danger after not showing up to his scheduled class, according to police who have inquired about his whereabouts.
Heikki Rantakari, 44, is an associate professor at the university’s Simon School of Business, according to their website, and a visiting professor of applied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, where he earned an economics Ph.D.
Rochester Police Capt. Gregory Bello told Fox News Digital that Rantakari landed at Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport from his Boston-area home around 7 p.m. Friday, and was seen around 9 p.m. at his Airbnb on Exchange Street between Flint Street and Mount Pleasant Park.
“The last person who saw him on Airbnb, he had stayed there before, [and] he recognized [Rantakari’s Finnish] accent and confirmed he was there… It wasn’t the first time [Rantakari has stayed at that Airbnb],” Bello told Fox News on Wednesday.
Rantakari speaks with a Finnish accent, weighs about 180 pounds, stands 5 feet, 11 inches with a medium build and has blonde hair and blue eyes, according to a statement from his family shared with News 8 WROC.
Heikki Rantakari failed to show up for his morning class he was teaching on Saturday, which police said was “very inappropriate” for him. Rochester Police Department
“Heikki Rantakari was a hard-working professor and a kind and quiet man in person,” the family wrote. “If anyone has seen or spoken to him, any information from the public on his whereabouts is urgently needed to help locate him ASAP… many are praying for his safe return.”
Bello told Fox News Digital that Rantakari was first reported missing to the nearby Brighton Police Department on Saturday before Rochester Police began investigating.
Local affiliate 13Wham captured a photo of a Rochester police cruiser outside an Airbnb on Exchange Street on Monday.
Heikki Rantakari was last seen at this Airbnb property on Exchange Street in Rochester, according to a statement from his family. Google Maps
Although some traces of the professor were found, there were no traces of Rantakari, Bello said.
Rantakari may have taken an Uber from the airport to his lodgings, Bello said, and planned to take a nearby overpass to his class a few minutes away.
But the captain did not say what, specifically, led police to believe the professor was in danger.
Heikki Rantakari is scheduled to teach an Executive MBA class at the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business, which is just a short walk from where Airbnb is located. Google Maps
“Beyond the obvious situation that just poof, this man is gone, there is some other information that indicates this man may be in danger as well,” Bello said. “The strange part is that this man is missing – my understanding of it is very inappropriate.”
Bello would not share the conditions under which the professor’s Airbnb was abandoned.
“He has family in Boston, and obviously they care about him, too, and that’s what we’re trying to sort out here and figure out what happened,” Bello told 13Wham.
“We are grateful to all local law enforcement agencies and the University of Rochester Department of Public Safety in supporting this investigation,” University of Rochester officials wrote in a statement. “We are asking for the public’s support in reporting anything related to Professor Rantakari’s whereabouts by calling 911. The university hopes that he will be found safe soon.”
Anyone with relevant information is urged to call 911 or the Rochester Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at (585) 428-7157.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
