Where is Joann Matouk-Romain?
Family searches for missing mom

There are many faces on Facebook. But there's only one the family of Joann Matouk-Romain wants to see–hers.

The family has turned to viral social networking, on Facebook and Twitter, to help spread the word that their mother is missing, and they want her to come home. They've also put up an additional site, as well.

Ryan Thompson, a family friend, set up the Facebook page to serve as a clearinghouse for information and deflect pressure on the family. "Bring home Joann Matouk-Romain" was posted Thursday (Jan. 14) with the few facts that have been made public since the  disappearance of the Grosse Pointe Woods woman two days previous:

Matouk-Romain was last seen around 7 p.m. Tuesday night, Jan. 12, sitting in the back row at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church on Lake Shore Road in the Farms. Her car was found a few hours later in the church driveway. Police said at the time that footprints leading from the car to the water's edge, along with a mark apparently left by a person sitting down, led them to suspect Matouk-Roman may have jumped or fallen into Lake St. Clair. A search by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Farms dive team that night and the following day turned up nothing, and the water search was called off. Farms police said Wednesday night that the matter was being handled by the Woods public-safety department as a missing-persons case.

Thompson said the family strongly rejects the idea that Matouk-Romain was suicidal. 

"We know it was not a suicide," Thompson said. "She lives for her kids. If she could see the agony they were going through now, she wouldn't have have done anything to cause that."

Matouk-Romain has three adult children. She is also diabetic and takes medication for high blood pressure, but Thompson said they had no reason to believe her medical condition was fragile enough for her to behave erratically.

Thompson added that the family doesn't believe the footprints were hers, either. "A man (told police) he saw someone sitting by the lake earlier that day," who might have been the person who left the seat mark.

"She was the most cautious woman," Thompson said. "She doesn't drive at night, or on the expressway. And she doesn't sit by the lake. Not on a warm day and definitely not with all that snow."

Beyond their belief at Matouk-Romain was not a suicide risk, however, they don't know much.

"We're just hoping someone saw something, or saw her," said Thompson. "We've posted flyers, and now we're doing this. We just hope someone knows something."

Matouk-Romain is described as 55 years old, 4-feet-10-inches and 165 pounds. She was last seen wearing black pants and a black top. 

Photo of Joann Matouk-Romain courtesy of Ryan Thompson.

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