Timothy Jerrell Cunningham worked as an epidemic intelligence officer at the Center for Disease Control (CDC). On February 12th, he reported for work, and then asked to leave because he was sick. Nobody has seen him since, and it's been over two weeks. The Atlanta police have offered a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest or indictment.
It's a mysterious disappearance. Cunningham's concerned relatives drove to his home, and found everything inside perfectly intact. "The most unusual factor in this case is that every single belonging that we are aware of was located in the residence," said Major Michael O'Connor of the Atlanta police. "So his keys, his cell phone, credit cards, debit cards, wallet, all his Identification, passport -- everything you can think of, we’ve been able to locate. None of those items are missing." It is as if the 35-year-old man simply vanished.
Cunningham received a master's degree from Morehouse College and a doctorate from Harvard University. He went to work in the Public Health Service and responded to emergencies including the Zika virus and Ebola virus. On the day he went missing, he asked for a promotion, and did not get it. After that meeting, he asked to leave work because he felt sick. While driving home, he called his mom, but did not leave a message. After that meeting, nobody knows what happened, and there is no evidence of foul play. "This is an extremely unusual set of circumstances," said Maj. O'Connor
Since the missing man is an epidemiologist who felt sick, people have freaked out online, imagining the beginning of a zombie apocalypse or global pandemic. Indeed there are spooky similarities to apocalyptic fiction like AMC's The Walking Dead and Stephen King's The Stand. A Reddit thread about the story received over 25,000 upvotes, and some concerned comments from horror fans:
"That is the news story that scrolls along the bottom of a TV in the background of our protagonist's kitchen as he/she rushes out the door to handle something 'totally unrelated'"
"This article reminds me of the beginning of Stephen King's book, The Stand. In it, a member of the military working on a germ warfare base is exposed to a nasty disease that has escaped containment. He flees with his family, launching an apocalyptic plague that kills almost everyone."
"This story doesn't sound at all like 90% of the information is being held back."
"These are usually the first articles you see before half the planet is zombies."
"All joking aside it's a little concerning that a CDC employee went home sick and hasn't been seen or heard from since."
There are eerie similarities to scary works of fiction, but at the same time, this is a real person missing. Hopefully some new information will turn up soon and Timothy Cunningham will be all right. And if this is the beginning of a zombie apocalypse or global pandemic, we've read a lot of books, played a lot of video games, and watched a lot of movies and TV shows, so we should be perfectly prepared.