Friends and family members do want to hear from anyone who may know anything about the whereabouts of Manning, a former Stuyvesant High School student who lives in Morningside Heights. A runaway situation isn't thought to be the case, and it's not as if he disappeared from a divey bar at 4 a.m. (Indeed, he was last seen at the Jewish Community Center at 76th Street and Amsterdam Avenue Sunday at 6:30 p.m.) The suddenly ubiquitous posters are particularly troubling for residents of the usually sedate neighborhood, where most of the notices taped to lampposts advertise block parties, dog-walking services, and Nadler political rallies. "The last one like this I remember was a woman years ago who went missing after she saw an unlicensed plastic surgeon," says Dan Bial, a book agent who lives in the West 80s. The NYPD is taking tips at 845-820-8435.

— S. Jhoanna Robledo