‘Groundhog Day of Heartache’: A Mother’s 18-Month Search for Missing Son Jack O’Sullivan

For Catherine O’Sullivan, every morning begins the same way — with a hollow ache and the desperate hope that today might finally bring answers.
Ever since her 23-year-old son Jack vanished after a night out in Bristol, life has become what she calls a “groundhog day nightmare.”

His bedroom remains untouched — clothes still folded, books stacked neatly by his desk. The porch light at their family home in Flax Bourton, North Somerset, still burns each night, a beacon in case Jack somehow finds his way home.

“I can’t move anything,” Catherine says quietly. “It feels like if I do, I’m letting go — and I can’t do that until I know what’s happened to him.”

A Promising Young Life

Jack O’Sullivan was, by all accounts, a bright and caring young man with a future full of promise. After graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in History, he had recently moved back home with his parents, Catherine and Alan.

The O’Sullivans describe that time as “peaceful and happy.” They would each go about their busy days — Alan at work, Jack studying for future qualifications — before reuniting in the evenings for dinner and laughter around the kitchen table.

“It was simple, ordinary family life,” Catherine recalls. “And we loved it that way.”

That comforting routine was shattered on the morning of March 2 last year.

The Night Jack Disappeared

Jack had been out with university friends at a house party in Bristol. At 1:52 a.m., he texted his mum, politely declining her offer of a lift home.
“He said not to worry, that he’d grab a taxi instead,” Catherine remembers.

What happened after that remains a mystery.

Jack was last seen on CCTV leaving a club at around 3:30 a.m. Ten minutes later, another camera captured him walking alone near Bennett Way — a busy slip road leading out of the city. That was the last confirmed sighting of him.

Since then, there has been no trace: no bank activity, no phone signal, no confirmed sightings.

A Year Without Answers

The O’Sullivans have spent every day since searching, appealing, and hoping. The search has stretched from Bristol to the rural outskirts, involving police divers, drones, and volunteers. Despite extensive efforts, no breakthrough has come.

For Catherine, the not knowing is its own torment.

“It’s like living between worlds,” she says. “You can’t grieve, because you don’t know. But you can’t live normally either, because part of you is missing.”

Friends and local residents have rallied around the family. Posters remain in shop windows, social media pages dedicated to finding Jack continue to share updates, and vigils have been held to keep his name in the public eye.

The Toll of Endless Waiting

Eighteen months on, Catherine admits she’s exhausted but refuses to give up.
Her life now revolves around the campaign to find her son — contacting detectives, following leads, and speaking to journalists in the hope that someone, somewhere, knows something.

She describes her days as mechanical: wake up, check her phone for updates, follow up on messages, and wait for news that never comes.

“It’s an ache that doesn’t go away,” she says. “Every night, I still expect to hear his key in the door.”

Jack’s father, Alan, has tried to stay strong for the family, though the pain runs deep. “We just want him home,” he says simply. “However that has to happen.”

An Unbreakable Hope

Despite the heartbreak, Catherine clings to a fragile hope that Jack is still alive.

“Until someone tells me otherwise, I have to believe he’s out there,” she insists. “Maybe he’s hurt, maybe he’s lost — but he’s somewhere.”

She appeals once again to anyone who may have seen or heard something on the night Jack vanished.

“Please,” she pleads, “if you know anything, no matter how small, come forward. Someone out there knows what happened to my boy.”

A Family Frozen in Time

As the 18-month anniversary of Jack’s disappearance passes, the O’Sullivans remain trapped in limbo — between hope and heartbreak, between searching and waiting.

The porch light still glows every evening, a quiet symbol of love and endurance. Catherine says she’ll never turn it off.

“It’s for Jack,” she says. “So he knows he can always find his way home.”

Anyone with information about Jack O’Sullivan’s disappearance is urged to contact Avon and Somerset Police, quoting reference number 5223050735.