For five days, Tyler Asher's family members called hospitals, handed out fliers, posted pleas to Facebook and searched the neighborhood for the missing 20-year-old.
Around 5 p.m. Monday, they received a call from one of his friends, who had found the young man's silver Acura in a wooded area in White Marsh. Asher was dead inside, the apparent victim of a car crash.
"It was horrible," Asher's stepmother, Dawn Lambert, said Tuesday. "I climbed in the window to make sure it was him."
Asher was at the Greene Turtle in White Marsh with friends on Thursday but did not return home. His family reported him missing later that day, Lambert said.
The family suspected something was wrong when Asher did not respond to messages sent to his phone, Lambert said.
She said they began calling area hospitals and police stations to try to find him. They retraced his drive from the restaurant looking for any sign of him. They handed out fliers and posted information to Facebook. One post received 4,000 shares online.
But still nothing.
The family canvassed the area near their home and near the restaurant..
After his friend called the family, they rushed to the scene. Lambert said they had passed the area where his car was hidden in the trees.
Lambert said she scrambled to the car.
"It was bad. It demolished his car," Lambert said.
She said she prays that her stepson was not in pain, "laying there in the cold by himself. I don't think he suffered, though."
Family members found his cellphone with 179 missed calls, she said.
Lambert said she's known Asher since he was 2. She said he grew up in Middle River and graduated from Kenwood High School two years ago. He was working with his father at SBA Construction.
Asher had recently moved into a house with friends.
He would have turned 21 next month, Lambert said.
He loved riding dirt bikes. "That was his passion. He could ride one-handed, no-hand. He loved it," she said.
Lambert described her stepson as "very mild-mannered. He was very respectful because he was raised around a bunch of girls."
Asher was the oldest of three boys and he also had three sisters.
"He was always smiling," she said.
As word spread that his car had been located on Monday, Lambert said friends went to the crash scene.
"People loved him," she said.
Lambert has not received additional information from police but said an autopsy was planned.
Police did not release additional details on the crash Tuesday.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is updated from an earlier version to clarify that Asher was the oldest son. The Sun regrets the error.