July 1 is a day Christine Ewald will never forget.

It marks the disappearance of her husband Adrian “Art” Ewald from their Kingston home.

“I was at a relative’s birthday party with my son at the time, and when I got home at 9 p.m. and saw that Art wasn’t home, I knew that something was really, really wrong,” Christine said. “I was concerned because he never liked to drive at night, and he had broken his prescription glasses and was using his prescription sunglasses to see.”

DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputies began searching nearby roads within two hours of his disappearance. His whereabouts still remain unknown.

“There is no indication of foul play so far, but that won’t be completely ruled out until we find [him],” Sheriff Roger Scott said.

It later was learned that Art had told an employee at his landscaping company at about 1:30 p.m. that he was going to buy some cigars. He has not been seen since.

“The past nine weeks have been hard,” Christine said. “Art’s business stopped immediately after he disappeared, and I’ve been trying to keep things stable for my 11-year-old son.”

To help with Christine’s struggle, community members pulled together to start the “Art Ewald Fund,” which was set up at Castle Bank.

Kathy Giles, a junior psychology major, set up a Web site with details about Art’s disappearance, allowing community members to write in with any leads or offers to help with the investigation.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of people who, on their own time, will help out a complete stranger,” she said.

Currently, police have no leads after doing massive canine searches and more than 150 interviews.

“There was no physical evidence of him keeping a secret stash of money, and no credit card transactions have been made since July 1,” Scott said.

Anyone with information regarding Ewald’s disappearance is asked to call the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department at 815-895-2155.