INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Eric Kohler, Young Movie Producer, Vanishes Into Thin Air — ‘It’s Damn Heartbreaking’

By Shelley Hazen
Published on: 08:29 PST, Dec 1, 2015

Up-and-coming Hollywood producer Eric Kohler is very accomplished for a such a young man.

The Northern California native moved to Los Angeles right out of high school and made his way to Hollywood to work in the movie industry. There, he began his career as a receptionist and made his way to HYDRAULX, a visual effects company where Kohler now works as a producer, NBC Los Angeles reported.

Eric’s list of credits is impressive and includes some of the biggest movies in recent years, and this year, he worked on the visual effects for films Goosebumps and San Andreas. Kohler’s family, who are now in anguish since the 27-year-old vanished a week ago, said he was an ambitious and responsible workaholic and would never just walk away from his job.

“He had big ambition to work hard and that’s what he’s been doing and something bad happened,” his mother, Sheryi Kohler, told the Los Angeles Times.

Since Eric disappeared on November 24, a huge deadline at work has come and gone. So did Thanksgiving. Night after night, his family and friends have put up fliers, doing anything they can to find him. The LAPD has gotten involved in the case.

According to KTLA, the LAPD’s Pacific Division has confirmed that Eric is missing and his disappearance is being investigated. So far, police don’t expect foul play, because Kohler has never gone missing before.

The circumstances under which he vanished haunt his parents, simply because he left so mysteriously and inexplicably. It’s also out of character — Eric never missed work.

Last Tuesday, Kohler left work about 4 p.m. (HYDRAULX’s offices are located in Gardena) without any of his things — not his wallet, laptop, or his bag — though he did have his phone. Eric was last seen traveling north, his last known location the Westmont neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

Detectives said that they are investigating a tip that Kohler may have been spotted on surveillance footage at a South L.A. Food 4 Less Market, after he was reported missing. Soon afterward, it seems as though his phone was turned off.

“And he literally disappeared,” said his father, Tony Kohler. “It’s heartbreaking. It’s damn heartbreaking.”

His family insists that Eric was too responsible a man to just vanish without a word to anyone. His mother, Sheryi, was adamant, insisting to NBC LA that she knows her “son would never do this.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Kohler said the family is praying that Eric needed time away, but fear the worst. There are too many red flags: leaving behind all his things, and the fact that his accounts have been silent for days.

Police and Kohler’s family are asking the public for help in locating the young man, circulating his photo on social media in the hopes someone will recognize him.

He is Caucasian, stands 5 feet 10 inches, and weighs roughly 160 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes and was last seen outfitted in blue straight jeans, a light blue collared shirt, brown shoes, and a leather, chrome-plated watched. He disappeared driving a black 2015 Range Rover Evoque, with matte black rims, and a dent above the driver’s side rear wheel well.

Kohler’s body of work is impressive. He’s worked on visual effects for The Avengers, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hangover Part III, World War Z, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Looper. Most recently, he worked on The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, and Midnight Special starring Kirsten Dunst.

[Photo by trekandshoot/Shutterstock]

Share this article: Eric Kohler, Young Movie Producer, Vanishes Into Thin Air — ‘It’s Damn Heartbreaking’
Hollywood Movies
More from Inquisitr