Friends of missing Cape Coral man unsure if suspicious texts actually came from him

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schmalbach
Barry Schmalbach (Credit: Cape Coral Police Department)

A missing man’s close friends claim the text messages he supposedly sent do not sound like him.

Tom and Miguel, who did not want their last names published, are questioning certain texts sent by their missing Cape Coral friend Barry Schmalbach, who they’ve known for nine years.

They said they don’t believe the messages sound like Schmalbach. The two friends said if someone spoke to Schmalbach in an aggressive way, he would give the same energy back.

Some of the texts are blurred out because of foul language.

Schmalbach’s friend, Miguel, said that screenshot was sent to him by Schmalbach’s boyfriend, Christopher Davis, on July 20.

His friends went to check on him on July 21, and then the police got involved the following day.

Barry Schmalbach (Credit: Cape Coral Police Department)

No one has seen Schmalbach in more than a week, but his boyfriend of two months is still living at his apartment.

Cape Coral Police detectives deemed Schmalbach’s disappearance suspicious on Wednesday.

Thursday morning, investigators were seen searching Schmalbach’s home on Beach Parkway in Cape Coral for leads.

As of Friday, police had not returned to the apartment complex.

Schmalbach’s friend, Jennifer Monaco, wants to know if there is an active search underway for her friend.

“I feel like I’m not doing a friend part for Barry because I’m hundred, thousands of miles away. I should be out there looking for him … has there been a search party? Has anybody done any searching,” Monaco said. “I should be down there helping, looking for my friend.”

The Marco Patriots, who are eager to help in the search of Schmalbach, said Schmalbach’s family just needs to reach out to them and let them know where to look and all hands will be on deck.

Investigators also said Schmalbach’s boyfriend gave them a false birthdate for himself and has active arrest warrants in Georgia and South Carolina, but they said neither appear to be extraditable. He was also reportedly the last person to see Schmalbach and told authorities he saw his boyfriend get into an Uber or a car he didn’t recognize eight days ago.

If you have any information about where Schmalbach could be, you are asked to call the Cape Coral Police Department.

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