While attending a family wedding in Union City Aug. 5, North Bergen teenager Minkesh Patel excused himself from the table, told his aunt that he would be back in five minutes, and disappeared for two weeks.
His disappearance set off a manhunt involving the North Bergen and Port Authority police, as well as many local businesses and concerned citizens. Fliers showing the 18-year-old’s picture and characteristics were posted all over the area. A psychic and a private investigator were called in. Family members feared the worst.
However, all along, Minkesh Patel was safe. He just ran away, heading to, of all places, Nashville.
"Some wild thoughts crossed my mind to make me want to go to Nashville," Minkesh Patel said Wednesday night, back in his North Bergen home after the two-week odyssey. "I saw something in a newspaper that Nashville was ‘The Music City.’ I love all kinds of music, like pop music, so I wanted to go."
Patel wandered off from the wedding, hopped on a bus from Union City to the Port Authority bus terminal, then purchased a bus ticket to go to Nashville – without telling a soul.
About an hour after leaving the wedding, Minkesh Patel tried to withdraw money from his bank account by using his automated teller machine card in the Port Authority bus terminal, but he forgot the pin number, so the transaction was rejected. Such a transaction led North Bergen detectives to believe that Patel might have been abducted, especially since there was another attempt to use the ATM card the following morning.
It was believed that the second attempt to use the card happened at the Port Authority bus terminal. But that was not the case. Minkesh Patel tried to take money out of the bank, but this time, while he was at the site of the Grand Old Opry.
Since he couldn’t withdraw any money from his bank account, Patel was practically broke by the time he arrived in Nashville some 22 hours after leaving Union City, even though he had plenty of money in the bank account.
"I saw some places in Nashville, some clothes shops and music shops," Minkesh Patel said. "There was a football game with the [Tennessee] Titans. But after a while, I wanted to come back home."
But he never bothered to call his family, who were frantically searching for him.
"I didn’t sleep for three days," said his uncle, Nick Patel, who manages the Dunkin’ Donuts store in Jersey City where Minkesh has worked for the last three years. "We were all worried that something bad had happened to him. We were thinking that it was someone else who tried to use the (ATM) card. We were scared."
While in Nashville, Minkesh Patel found a rescue mission where he slept for no cost and received some meals. He was basically living the life of a homeless person, wandering the streets during the day and going back to the mission at night, still not managing to phone his relatives.
"I didn’t have any money to call," Minkesh said. "I ran out of money."
Bagel shop owner comes to rescue
Hungry, Minkesh managed to stumble into a bagel shop that was owned by a person who was also of Indian descent, like Minkesh.
"He spoke the same language and knew that Minkesh was hungry and in need of food," said another uncle, Dipak Patel, who coordinated the search efforts to find his nephew. "The man who owned the bagel store asked Minkesh who he was and where was he from. Minkesh gave him his telephone number in India."
After feeding Minkesh for three straight days, the owner of the store, realizing that something wasn’t right, called the number in India and reached Minkesh’s parents.
"I got a call from my brother-in-law in India," Dipak Patel said. "He said that Minkesh was in Nashville."
So Dipak and Nick jumped on a plane Saturday and headed for the Music City. They searched the streets for three days, trying to find their nephew, to no avail.
They managed to find the bagel shop where the kind Indian man was feeding Minkesh.
"He told me to hang around, that Minkesh was bound to come back for more food," Dipak Patel said. "The store was closed on Sunday, so he told me to wait until Monday."
Sure enough, the uncles found a disheveled Minkesh Monday morning, looking like he was a homeless person, in need of a bath.
"He was walking by himself on a very quiet street," Dipak Patel said. "We stopped the car and I ran to him and hugged him."
Dipak Patel said that he didn’t need to have answers or reasons or anything. His nephew was safe.
"He said that he realized it wasn’t easy to be on the street by himself," Dipak Patel said. "He said that he meant to give us a call. But I didn’t need to hear anything. Thank God he was safe. We found him safe."
Dipak Patel said it was also fortunate that his nephew, who stands only 4-foot-10 and weighs 120 pounds, chose to flee to Nashville.
"Anywhere else would have been a disaster," Dipak Patel said. "We’re so lucky that he chose the right place. If he was on the street for a month, who knows what could have happened? Thank God it was only two weeks."
After Minkesh was greeted by his uncles, the trio immediately boarded a flight back to New Jersey.
As of Wednesday night, the reason for Minkesh’s disappearance was still a mystery. A usually reliable and hard working teenager just decides to take a trip to Nashville with no clothes or money on a whim? During a wedding? While telling no one else?
Still confused
Minkesh can’t offer any legitimate reasons, other than "I had a lot of thoughts going on inside my head and I’m still confused as to what I did."
His relatives don’t care.
"I’m not angry, and none of our family members are angry," Dipak Patel said. "We’re acting as if nothing ever happened. Things happen for a reason. Thank God he’s home and healthy. We’re so lucky."
Minkesh’s boss – his uncle Nick – said that he can take some time to rest and come back to work whenever he feels like it.
"I’m fine," Minkesh Patel said. "I feel fine. I learned that I will never do anything like this ever again. I learned the hard way."
Dipak Patel wanted to thank the North Bergen detectives, who worked tirelessly in trying to locate his nephew, as well as the local media, the local businesses and concerned neighbors, like Hernando Alvarado, who handed out fliers throughout the town in an attempt to locate Minkesh.
"Hernando was a big help," Dipak Patel said. "Because of this, we all have new friends. We just want to get Minkesh back to the life that he used to live."
"I promise I won’t go anywhere else," Minkesh Patel said. "I won’t do this again. I know I won’t go alone."
If there was a lesson to the two weeks of madness for the Patel family, it came in the words that Minkesh told his uncles soon after he was located, safe and sound.
"Minkesh said that we should do something to help the poor people, the homeless," Dipak Patel said. "So we will."
"I’m sure he learned a lot, but I know we all learned a lot too," Dipak Patel said. "We learned just how fortunate we really are."