PHOENIX - A U.S. Marine from Surprise is heading to a military jail at his California base after vanishing for five days, leaving unanswered questions about why he took off.
Lance Cpl. Job Covey Wallace was arrested Saturday night in Texas, 1,500 miles from his base at Camp Pendleton. He was supposed to have returned to the base last Tuesday after a three-day leave.
At one point, Wallace's truck was spotted near the Mexico border. Now the military is investigating what the 20-year-old Marine was doing.
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In a statement Monday to 12 News, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Division, headquartered at Camp Pendleton, said Wallace was arrested for an “unexcused absence from his appointed place of duty.”
“He is currently being transported back to Camp Pendleton, where he will be placed in confinement in the Camp Pendleton brig, pending adjudication of his case. The matter is currently under investigation and there are no charges to announce at this time."
Here’s what we know about Wallace’s disappearance:
Monday, Sept. 16: Wallace vanished after leaving a friend's home in Surprise about 8:30 p.m. He was due back at Camp Pendleton the next day, after a three-day leave.
Tuesday: A Border Patrol camera spotted Wallace's vehicle heading eastbound on Interstate 10 along the Mexico border in Fort Hancock, Texas.
Saturday night: A sheriff’s officer in Navarro County, Texas, saw Wallace's truck at a rest area on northbound Interstate 45, an hour south of Dallas.
In a Facebook post, Sheriff Elmer Tanner said officers from four other law-enforcement agencies responded, including NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Wallace was arrested without incident.
But there's still no explanation for why Wallace disappeared for five days.
“At this time I just know that he's safe and he's alive,” said Wallace’s mother, Stacy Wallace, in an interview at her Surprise home.
She said her son would be getting medical treatment at Camp Pendleton, but wouldn't say whether he'd been injured.