The Disappearance of Bryan Vladek Hasel

Bryan Vladek Hasel was born in Russia and spent the first few years of his life in an orphanage. When he was just five years old, in 2004, he would be adopted, along with his biological sister Irena.

His adopted family resided in the United States and Brian would grow up with seven other siblings.

After school, Byan, who now preferred to go by his Russian birth name, Vladek or Vlad, joined the United States Marine Corps. But he didn’t settle in well to Marine life and would be honorably discharged a year later for failure to adapt.

After moving around a bit, Vlad settled in the East Orlando, Florida area with his dad.

He was known to be kind to everyone and often would help out the homeless people in the area, even if Vlad himself didn’t have much.

In October 2021, Vlad had taken a new intense interest in religion. Because of this, he decided to get rid of his phone and tablet as he considered those items distractions from getting into heaven. He did get a flip phone for emergencies because his family had insisted.

In November, Vlad’s father took a road trip to Tennessee. Vlad didn’t want to go, so he stayed behind.

When his dad returned from his trip on November 15, Vlad was nowhere to be found. His flip phone was left behind in the apartment.

Vlad hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

Where is Brian ‘Vladek’ Hasel?

Vladek was born in Russia along with his older sister Irena. He would spend the first few years of his life in a Russian orphanage until he and Irena were adopted by an American family. He was five years old when he moved to the United States in 2004.

Vladek would grow up with his biological sister along with six other siblings. The family was generally close, even though his adopted parents would eventually separate.

Vladek was likable, very friendly with everyone he met, and loved playing basketball. He talked all the time about how he couldn’t wait to join the U.S. Marines after high school, something that he did indeed do in 2018.

After graduating boot camp, Vladek was assigned a desk job in the Marines- something he wasn’t happy about.

In 2019, he was honorably discharged from the Marines for ‘failure to adapt’. He told his family that his past childhood struggles from his early years in Russia played a role in this discharge, but the family isn’t 100% on what happened there.

After getting released from the Marines, Vladek was a little lost. His only goal had been to become a Marine, so he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do now.

Vladek moved in with his father for a short time, before moving to Michigan to live with one of his sisters. He seemed to do better in Michigan, finding a job in Environmental services at a hospital, a job that he truly enjoyed.

Things would change however when his sister lost her job during the height of the Covid Pandemic in 2020. For a while, Vladek supported her and her daughter, but eventually, they would all move and relocate to Nashua, New Hampshire.

Vladek didn’t thrive in New Hampshire, however, and when he lost his job there he decided to move back to Florida and live with his father.

The Place at Alafaya Apartment Complex in East Orland (Credit: JM)

In November 2020, Vlad and his father move into an apartment at The Place at Alafaya, a complex located on the east side of Orlando.

The next year, in 2021, Vladek developed an interesting fascination with religion and heaven. He went from being a young guy who enjoyed having nice basketball shoes and the newest cell phones, to thinking that all those things were a waste, and a distraction from his getting into heaven.

He gave away his phone and his tablet, and only got a flip phone when his dad insisted that he have some type of way to communicate.

During this time, Vlad was also known to help out the homeless, often giving them money, even if he himself had little to nothing. Vlad was always kind and generous though, but it seemed that during this time of struggle in his life, helping the homeless was a way for him to feel useful.

THE DISAPPEARANCE.

On November 3, 2021, Vlad’s car breaks down. It ends up being towed to a shop where it was scheduled to be fixed, although it was going to take some time.

Vlad’s father was also planning a trip to Tennessee with one of Vlad’s sisters. He asked Vlad to go, but ultimately Vlad decided to stay home and not go. This was not too out of the ordinary, Vlad generally liked doing his own thing and was often known to make last-minute decisions.

But on the morning of November 5, Vlad’s father would leave for a 10-day road trip and Vlad would stay behind in Orlando.

On that day, Vlad does go to his favorite coffee shop hangout, Foxtail Coffee. Later into the night, at 2:00 a.m. in the early morning hours of November 6 actually, Vlad has a conversation with his sister Irena. This was not unusual for them to have a call at this hour and Irena would say it was just a normal conversation. A conversation that lasted about 6 minutes.

At 7:00 a.m., Vlad goes back to Foxtail Coffee shop and sits at a table.

At 8:26 a.m., management asks him to leave because a customer had complained about some strange behavior from Vlad, saying that he was pacing back and forth, and then when he sat down he put a pocket knife on the table in front of him while staring at some patrons.

This pocket knife, incidentally, was purchased just a few days prior and when his dad asked why he would spend money on a pocket knife, Vlad said it was for protection.

No one knows why he might have thought he needed protection, and at the time his dad didn’t think too much of it.

Vlad’s family was unable to get ahold of him for the next several days. His father arrived back home on November 15 and noticed that Vlad wasn’t only missing, but it didn’t seem that he had even been at the apartment while he was gone. All of the food remained untouched, and an Amazon package that had been delivered on November 8th was still sitting at the front door. Vlad’s cell phone was also found in his room.

His father and his sisters tried to track him down but had no luck.

November 16, 2021, Vladek was officially reported as missing.

THE SEARCH AND INVESTIGATION.

Right away, Vlad’s sisters took to social media to try and get help for Vlad’s case. Mainstream media wasn’t too interested in the case, and his family knew they needed people from all over to keep their eyes open for Vlad.

They were concerned for a few reasons.

First, Vlad had never just up and vanished before, and he was generally close with his family. For him to do this, without notifying anyone, something had to be going on.

Secondly, Vlad had also been acting someone strange in the months leading up to his disappearance. His talk of religion, his feeling of being kind of lost in what to do with his life, getting rid of his electronics…his family had a reason to be worried.

If Vlad was in some kind of trouble or distress, they needed to find him.

Authorities start to retrace his steps to get an idea of when he was last seen.

It was confirmed that he was at the coffee shop on the morning of November 6th as early as 7:00 a.m.

His sisters found that odd- if he was up late through the night, which we know he was through the conversation with one of his sisters, then Vlad would usually sleep late the next day.

Why was he at the coffee shop so early?

A maintenance worker at the complex reported seeing Vlad and speaking to him on November 12. An account that law enforcement has deemed credible, but Vlad’s family said that doesn’t make a lot of sense. There was no sign of him at his apartment after November 6.

And- there was no usage of his cell phone- the one left behind at the apartment- either.

Another friend of Vlad’s said that Vlad had called him on November 14th to ask if he could say with him, but he had told him no because he had a wife and kids and didn’t have a lot of room. Vlad then told him he was going to go off-grid.

With this information in hand, law enforcement turned up the physical searches of wooded areas in and around east Orlando. There was a patch of woods behind the apartment complex, and dogs were brought in to search.

Authorities also used helicopters and drones to cover a wider area.

One of Vlad’s shoes was found in that wooded area- a red Nike Slide. But no other signs of Vlad were found.

Vlad didn’t have a car, it was still in the shop, and no one came forward to say they gave him a ride anywhere.

Does this mean wherever Vlad went he was on foot?

If he did indeed leave on November 6th, the last official sighting of Vlad at the coffee shop, and his father didn’t come home until November 15th, this gave him a 9-day head start to get somewhere. But where?

Vlad’s family canvassed the area of East Orlando themselves and spoke to many people. One thing that stood out to me, is that they spoke to many of the homeless people in the area. Vlad was known to frequent where they hung out and often helped them out. And in fact, a couple of the people they spoke to there offered to do whatever they could to help find Bryan because he had helped them out so much.

It really is moving to hear that Bryan, no matter what he had going on personally, was so devoted to helping others when they needed it most.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA.

Most people are familiar with the Orlando, Florida area. It is a huge tourist city, with Disneyworld, Universal Studios, Sea World, and many other attractions nearby. In fact, Orlando claims to be home to over a dozen theme parks.

Orlando is home to over 300,000 permanent residents but brings in millions of tourists annually too.

Vlad and his dad specifically lived in what is known as the East Orlando area, just down the street from UCF- the University of Central Florida.

The apartment complex sits off of a busy 6-lane highway. And if you’ve ever been to Orlando, you know the traffic can be exceptional.

It’s not clear how Vlad was getting around, but there are sidewalks and bus stop up and down that highway, known as North Alafaya Trail.

Busy six-lane highway outside of The Place at Alafaya Apartments

There are a few bodies of water around the area- it’s Florida after all and you’ll find that across the entire state. Mostly ponds and creeks, nothing too major right in the immediate vicinity. I don’t know if any bodies of water were searched.

Right behind the apartment complex is a patch of woods. It’s hard to see how dense they truly must be, and I believe this is where his shoe was found, so I’m sure that area was searched.

Foxtail Coffee is located just 1.3 miles from his apartment, close to the UCF area and an area where Vlad was known to hang out. An easy walk even without a car.

But after that incident on the morning of November 6th, Vlad was asked to leave and not to come back again.

Which leaves me wondering- what happened to cause him to behave in that way and could that possibly have triggered something in him causing him to want to leave?

Orlando offers many modes of transportation too if Vlad was looking to leave the area. It seems there are plenty of buses and an Amtrak station also.

How extensively this was looked into, it’s hard to say.

The family also worked hard to put up Billboards around Orlando and received donations to help them do just that. It has been a continued struggle for them to get the attention they need to Vlad’s case, but they are definitely fighting the fight to do just that.

THEORIES and POSSIBILITIES.

Vlad’s family has no idea what happened to Vlad, or where he could have gone. But they do have some concerns.

1. Could Vlad have indeed gone to live off-grid? This is what he allegedly told his friend he was going to do. What would have prompted him to do this? Was he prepared enough to do this all by himself at age 22? Could he have been having some mental health struggles? And most importantly now is, where is he?
2. Did Vlad want to harm himself? His behavior seemed odd leading up to his disappearance, including a lot of talk about making it into heaven. He was struggling trying to find his place in society, especially after leaving the Marines. Did all of this catch up to him? But if so, where did he go?
3. Is it possible Vlad got caught up in a religious group? Could he possibly have left to live with a group like this in secret? Perhaps he was being mentored with these religious beliefs and he was finally lured away from his home. But again, he didn’t leave a trail of information leading anyone to any group in particular.
4. Did Vlad meet with foul play? Could he have angered the wrong person with his strange behavior and brandishing of his knife?
5. Could Vlad be living among a homeless population somewhere? He was known to communicate and spend time with many. Although the family has checked a lot of these areas out, is it possible that he’s in a different area?

Again this is one of those cases that have so few clues, almost any of these possibilities is as likely as the other.

What do you think happened to Bryan Vladek Hasel?

Vladek is described as a Caucasian male, standing 5’8” tall and weighing around 220 pounds at the time he disappeared in November 2021. Vlad was 22 years old then, and would today be 24 years old. He has light brown hair and blue eyes. He was last known to be in the area of Foxtail Coffee on the morning of November 6, 2021. There was a possible sighting of him on November 12 at the apartment complex, but I do wonder if the maintenance man didn’t get his dates messed up, which can be easy to do. But, it’s still a possibility he was around the apartment complex at that time.

Vlad was last seen wearing khaki shorts, a black jacket, and red Nike slides shoes, although it is believed one of his shoes has been recovered.

Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Bryan Vladek Hasel, is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 407–254–7000.