Friends, family searching for Michael Gelfand reported missing in New Orleans

JACKSON, New Jersey -- Friends and family are searching for a father from New Jersey who went to New Orleans on an overnight business trip but never came home.

Dozens of Michael Gelfand's friends have traveled to Louisiana to search for the missing 33-year-old.

He texted his wife on Jan. 6 that he would fly home that evening, but he never arrived.

His credit card has since been used at drugstores, grocery stores and bars -- leading to the question of whether he is truly missing.

But the searchers insist he'd want to be home with his family and other members of the Orthodox Jewish community.

"Michael wants to be found, Michael needs to be found and Michael wants to be part of that community," Nathan Ginsbury said. "He may right now have a struggle that we don't understand -- that he may not understand -- but he wants to be a part of that community still."

The search team is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads them to Gelfand's location.