Lance Martin, Herald Senior Staff Writer

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ROANOKE RAPIDS - Wendy Wester wants her missing son to know something.

“I love you. I need you to help me find out what makes things work and help us get together and make this better,” she said Wednesday.

Fifteen-year-old Reginald O'Neal Wester has been missing since Monday morning, his mother said. He was last seen at his house between 1 and 1:30 a.m. that day.

Mrs. Wester admits a family argument may have prompted him to run away, but the mother of five said she never intended for that to happen.

“He doesn't like being over there,” she said of their Church Street neighborhood. “He doesn't like dealing with the kids over there.”

But that is the best Mrs. Wester said she can manage right now, working five and a half days a week to make 40 hours.

Because she has to work, Reginald has to stay home a lot to watch the younger children. “He gets tired of watching the babies, but I don't have any help,” Mrs. Wester said.

And that's what prompted the argument that made him leave. “I told him if I was that bad of a parent then he should just leave. He did.”

Mrs. Wester said she didn't mean it in a harsh way because she dislikes the conditions and neighborhood just as much as her son does.

The younger children miss Reginald, she said. “The little ones all wonder where Reggie is. They miss him and want him back.”

Capt. J.K. Hinton of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department said Reginald has been entered into national criminal databases as missing and police are conducting an investigation. “We would encourage anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact us.”

Reginald had $12 in his pockets, so his mother doesn't expect he has gone far. He has relatives in Stafford, Va., and also has family in Enfield.

When he left, he was wearing black and gray tennis shoes, blue jean shorts and a black Mario Brothers T-shirt encrusted with rhinestones.

Reginald has the pigmentation disorder known as vitiligo and it can be seen around his right eye and on his hand.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Roanoke Rapids Police Department at 533-2810 or Halifax County Crimestoppers at 583-4444.