Family desperately searches for missing Brown Co. man

A Wisconsin family is desperately searching for a missing Brown County man, Benjamin Berendsen. According to investigators, the 37-year-old has been missing since last Tuesday, November 26th.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office issued a Missing Endangered Persons Alert on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Berendsen’s maroon Chevy Suburban appeared abandoned Friday on the shoulder of northbound I-43 in the Ozaukee County town of Belgium.

“As far as I know, he doesn’t even know the area where his truck was,” said Tyler Berendsen, Benjamin’s brother.

Tyler Berendsen and his sister Hannah Canales spoke via Zoom with Green Bay area WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys. Berendsen and his family live here.

“The community support has been really good, especially in this area. A lot of people have reached out to us to check in on how we’re doing,” Canales said. “You just feel like a shell of a human being, you just feel like you’re going through the motions.”

“You wait for an answer. So far, like I said, everything has been a dead end,” Tyler said.

They said alarm bells went off when Benjamin’s three children didn’t receive a call from him.

“He called the kids every night and didn’t call that night,” Canales said.

That was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Tyler said they planned to spend the holidays together at the Packers game.

“Two days before, he had a conversation with me and was excited to go to the Packer game. When I suddenly heard that people had lost contact with him, I thought, well, I’ll go to the “Tomorrow the Packers are playing him, so I’ll reach out to him and see if we’re still going to continue or what’s going on.” said.

Tyler and Canales said Benjamin didn’t answer the phone. Family members left missing person posters at gas stations in Ozaukee County, hoping someone had seen their brother.

“Everything was unknown and there were no answers, and that’s what we’re looking for: answers. We’ll keep going until we get something,” Tyler said.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office is assisting the Brown County Sheriff’s Office with its investigation.

“A search of his vehicle was conducted along with multiple searches in the immediate area, including a K9 search, a drone search, multiple on-foot searches and a search of residences in the area. His cell phone was also pinged.” “Ozaukee Co., said Undersheriff Marshall Hermann.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information that could help investigators to contact Sgt. Phil Nelson at 920-448-6191 or Sgt Tyler Callow at 920-448-6187.

You can also remain anonymous by contacting Green Bay Area Crime Stoppers by phone at 920-432-STOP (7867), through their website 432stop.com or by downloading the P3 Tip app.