Christina Simpson told Dateline, “We’re not giving up hope.” “I know it’s been 6 months, but we’re still hoping that someone knows something and that he’s OK somewhere.”
Joshua Amos, Christina’s 32-year-old son, hasn’t been seen since March 19, 2023.
“We’re just waiting for that one good tip,” she said.
Christina took care of her seven kids in Caseyville, Illinois, where she lived. “Josh is younger than the four girls. “So he’s fifth,” she said. “He has two brothers who are younger.”
Christina told Dateline that Caseyville is a small town and that Josh loved everything about it when he was a kid. “He loves being in the country, especially in the creeks,” she said. “He loves being outside.”
Josh has two girls who are 8 and 11 years old. “He loves taking them out to the boats and swimming,” Christina said. “That was his big thing.” Josh is no longer with the girls’ mother, but Christina said that they are “very good at co-parenting.”
Christina said that Josh was just starting his new job at Precoat Metals in Granite City. “It was a job that paid well. “He was so happy,” she said. “But he worked for a long time.”
The last time Christina talked to Josh was then.
Christina told Dateline that her youngest son called her on Monday, March 19, to tell her something that made her worry. “I was at work when my youngest son called and said, ‘Mom, I don’t want to scare you, but we can’t find Josh,'” Christina said. “He told me that Josh had gone out with his friends and that no one had seen or heard from him since.”
On that day, Christina’s youngest son told the police in Washington Park that his brother was missing.
Dateline has tried to get in touch with the Washington Park Police Department more than once, but has not heard back yet.
Christina says that Josh and three friends went to the club Scarlett’s Cabaret in Washington Park early on March 19. Granite City is about 16 minutes away by car. She said, “They stayed there until about 4:58 a.m. on the 19th, which was Sunday morning.” “You can see Josh on camera outside the club in the parking lot, and then you can see him walk out of the parking lot by himself.”
Christina told Dateline that she talked to Josh’s friends that night. “They say that he just walked away,” she told him. “One of them stayed behind and looked for him, but they could never find him.”
Christina said that she saw Josh again about five minutes from the club at a train station. Christina said, “He walked to the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center MetroLINK station and talked to a bus driver.” “[The bus driver] said that he seemed very cold and lost. He said over and over that he had to go home. He had to get to Granite City.”
Christina says that after that, the bus driver helped Josh get a bus pass. Christina said, “The driver told him to get on a bus and she would take him to Emerson Park MetroLINK.” “We see him on video at 6:45 a.m. at Emerson Park MetroLINK. And you see him waiting for a train, but the train leaves without him on it.”
“The last confirmed sighting on camera was at 7:28 a.m. Sunday morning,” Christina said. She told Dateline that Josh was caught on camera at Ee-Jay Motor Transports in East St. Louis, which is about five minutes from the Emerson Park MetroLINK station. “The picture shows Josh walking through the parking lot. No one is after him. No cars are around him. Christina said, “That’s the last time we see him on video.” He could walk back to his home in Granite City in about two hours.
Christina told Dateline that her son has been looked for more than once by the Washington Park Police Department and the Illinois State Police.
Trooper Josh Korando of the Illinois State Police told Dateline in an email that investigators have looked in “areas around the club [Josh] walked away from in Washington Park and the area around Lincoln Avenue and 17th Street” in East St. Louis. This is the parking lot where Josh was last seen on security footage. He also said that there have been many rumors that Joshua has been seen, but none of them have been proven.
Trooper Korando says that there is no evidence that Josh’s disappearance was caused by a crime.
Christina said that Josh’s family and friends have also been looking for him. “We looked for dogs a total of five times. “We did two searches with cadaver dogs in the area,” she said on Dateline. “Nothing at all has been found.”
Christina told Dateline that Josh left his cell phone at the friend’s house where everyone met to go out the night he went missing. “We called the bank to find out. She said, “His card hasn’t been used, so it’s been hard to find him without a cell phone, bank account, or license plate on a car they can track.” “We’ve had a few people call in and say they saw him, but it wasn’t him every time. So, of course, that’s an emotional roller coaster.”
Christina said that she has heard a lot of rumors about where her son went. “It was said that Josh had been robbed that morning. She said, “We haven’t been able to show that.” “Right now, there are no leads or tips.”
Christina said she has a theory about what happened to her son, even though she doesn’t know for sure. She said, “He had been very cold, and we’re afraid he fell asleep somewhere and didn’t wake up.” “He gave up because it was too cold.”
Christina told Dateline that she is going to find out what happened to Josh. She runs the ‘Bring Josh Amos Home’ Facebook page to find out what happened to her son. Christina said, “I will always be grateful to the people who have helped me.” “There have been good things that came out of the heartbreak.”
Josh’s family is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that will help them find him.
“His girls need him home, his mom needs him, and so do his siblings,” Christina said. “We want to get that phone call and be able to just hug him.”
Josh is 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, and has brown hair and eyes. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a light gray long-sleeve crew-neck shirt, and black Adidas tennis shoes. On his chest, he has the names of his two daughters, Bella and Mia. On his right bicep, he has a Chinese symbol. Christina says that he walks in a very unique way because of pain in his lower back.
If you know anything about what happened to Josh, please call the Washington Park Police Department at 618-874-0115.
