just heard heavy breathing. he was in distress of some sort. he was not responding to anything that i was saying. >> reporter: his parents were still 20 minutes away and lauren was growing frantic, sending text after text. >> at 5:57, "trying to get to you. answer the phone. answer the phone. please answer." >> okay. >> and at 6:16, i said "please answer," and that was after i had already heard him in distress of some sort. >> reporter: when his parents got to the store, they saw alfred's truck but no sign of alfred, only the clerk behind the counter. >> i went in and asked her, had she saw a clean-cut, young black guy in scrubs. she told me that, yes, i saw him out on his cell phone by his truck. and all of a sudden, he put his cell phone in his sock, took off running like the truck was going to blow up. >> reporter: the clerk did not want to be interviewed on camera by cnn but told us he left of his own free will, a phrase she