SHEBOYGAN FALLS - A Sheboygan Falls family is pleading for help finding a missing relative.

Forty-six year old John Schnicke has been missing since Friday. He doesn't drive, and walks everywhere he goes.

The search has been focused along the Sheboygan River, where the currents are very fast.

Schnicke's brother is asking someone out there to help bring him home after five difficult days of searching.

"John, if you can hear me, with the help of all these wonderful people, we're doing everything we can to bring your home safely. We love you and we miss you more than you can possibly know," Glen Schnicke said.

Searchers are combing the river, looking for any clues.

John was walking home from a bar across the street from the river. Searchers found some footprints matching his shoe size, and investigators think he may have fallen into the river.

The footprints go halfway across a railroad bridge and then vanish. He had been drinking, but investigators don't know if that had any role in his disappearance.

"We do not know, and at this point it's irrelevant, due to the fact that we just need to find John," Sheboygan Falls Police Chief Steven Riffel said.

There is another possibility. Three witnesses saw a man with a similar description trying to hitch a ride from a silver pickup truck on Friday night. Family members are keeping up hope.

"We know John is out there somewhere," Glen Schnicke said.

John's brother says he was not depressed and wouldn't leave without telling anyone, but after five days with no new clues, the search is becoming more urgent.

"Without fresh information and leads, it's becoming more difficult to determine where the search should continue," Glen Schnicke said.

We also know that John is a long time TODAY’S TMJ4 viewer. He's traded e-mails with a lot of people at our station about various stories.

He is 5'11, weighs 240 pounds, and walks slightly hunched over due to a medical condition.

Anyone with information should call the Sheboygan Falls Police Department.