A cast member at the Walt Disney World Resort vanished without a trace just two days after Christmas, and investigators are asking for the public’s assistance in locating him and finding those who may be responsible for his disappearance.
It’s been six years since Brian Edward Klecha, a man from Polk County, Florida, disappeared after visiting the bank just two days after Christmas in 2017. Since he was last seen, he has had no communication of any kind with his family or friends, all of whom say such a lack of communication is out of character for Klecha.
According to a Facebook page launched by his family to help find him, Klecha is a veteran of the United States Air Force. He was last seen on December 27, 2017, at MidFlorida Credit Union in Auburndale, Florida, where he was conducting a banking transaction.
At the time of his disappearance, Klecha was reportedly in the process of moving into a shared home in the city of Lakeland, Florida, and was working at the Walt Disney World Resort in Transportation as a bus driver. Klecha is described as a white male with green eyes and blonde hair who weighed approximately 180 pounds at the time he vanished. He also has a deep cleft chin and is a cigarette smoker.
Klecha was 35 years old at the time of his disappearance and would be 41 years old today.
On February 11, 2018, less than two months after his disappearance, Klecha’s vehicle, a Jeep, was found abandoned on State Road 618 at the Morgan Street exit in Tampa, Florida. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the vehicle might have been involved in an accident several days before it was discovered.
According to law enforcement officers, the circumstances surrounding Klecha’s disappearance do not suggest that he went away on his own, but rather that his vanishing might be due to the possibility that he was a “victim of domestic violence or drug abuse.”
Investigators say Klecha has no means of financial support and has had no contact with his family or friends since the time of his disappearance.
Klecha reportedly has ties to the Florida counties of Orange, Polk, and Hillsborough, and according to an informational sheet created by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in December 2019, Klecha was known to frequent LGBTQ clubs in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
“Brian had a steady job, he had a good circle of friends, he loved his pets,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Tampa Special Agent Mark Brutnell said. “And then, after December 27, 2017, all that changed. No one has heard or seen from him. His social media is nonexistent. His pets had been abandoned, and his storage unit, which had some of his belongings in it, was auctioned off by the storage unit.
“And the most important aspect of that is his mother has not heard from her son in five years,” Agent Brutnell added. “That’s very concerning for us.”
So far, investigators say they’ve followed several leads, but as of yet, nothing concrete has come from those leads.
“You just don’t vanish off the face of the Earth,” Brutnell said.
Because Klecha disappeared in Polk County, Florida, and his vehicle was found abandoned in Hillsborough County, the case is considered multi-jurisdictional, and as such, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has jurisdiction over the continuing investigation, which was launched in December 2017.
CrimeStoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the identification of the unknown suspect(s) in this case and to the subsequent arrest of the suspect(s). Klecha’s family is offering an additional $5,000 reward. All tips can be completely anonymous.
Anyone with any information about Brian Edward Klecha, his whereabouts, his disappearance, or any related circumstances is urged to contact Special Agent Mark Seckley at (813) 557-5287 or at (813) 878-7334. For additional information, the public can also contact the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Office of Public Information at (850) 410-7001.
