Friends said they were concerned because his wallet and keys were still in his apartment, and he hadn’t taken his car or bike.

“Everyone here is very worried,” said Joshua Jordan, one of his best friends. “Everyone is taking it hard. Every time you check your phone you’re hoping it’s something good, and any moment he’s going to pop up.”

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He said Carl Conyers is a leader on campus. “He’s really an all-around role model; he gives to the community, he’s a focused and driven individual. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree — his parents raised him well. He’s a great influence and a great kid.”

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John Conyers represents Michigan’s 13th district, which includes Detroit. He is the most senior member of Congress; in 2014, he was elected to his 26th term. He’s a founding member and dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, and the highest-ranking Democrat and a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

A spokeswoman for Conyers, Shadawn Reddick-Smith, sent a statement Thursday:

“Yesterday, Rep. John Conyers Jr. and his wife Monica Conyers learned of the disappearance of their son, Carl Conyers, who is a student at the University of Houston. Rep. Conyers and his family ask for privacy as they work through this situation of uncertainty and ask that anyone with knowledge of their son’s whereabouts, contact the Houston Police Department immediately.”

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The FBI is also involved in the search, Reddick-Smith said.

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Mike Rosen, a spokesman for the University of Houston, said school officials and campus police are cooperating with Houston police and the family.

“People are upset,” said another close friend, Aarik Charles. “We’re all scared.”

Charles was handing out missing-person fliers Thursday afternoon, and said a prayer vigil would be held later in the day.

Carl Conyers is the president of the Black Business Student Association in the Bauer College of Business at the university, where he is a junior studying marketing, friends said. He helped form a campus organization called Uncommon Colors, a creative outlet for musicians and artists that was designed in hopes of forming friendships across ethnic groups; Charles described it as a way for people to meet people with common interests rather than just sticking with all the groups on campus organized around race, ethnicity and other identities.

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Jordan described Conyers as funny, lighthearted, but focused, knowing when to be serious. He said he helped the black community on campus and in the city.

Jordan didn’t worry when his friend left work at the Bauer School of Business a little early on Monday, and figured he was busy with classes or something when he didn’t show up for work Tuesday. The last time Jordan heard from his friend was Tuesday about 1 p.m. when he responded to a group text about upcoming plans, saying he would be there. On Wednesday, when their boss asked about him, and he realized Conyers’s longtime girlfriend and other friends hadn’t seen him, he started to really worry. “It makes no sense. It just makes no sense,” he said.

On social media, friends and others spread the word and photos of Conyers in hopes of finding him quickly.