Missing South Dakota college student turns up... at Occupy Wall Street

Aaron Schmidt, 18, a freshman at the University of South Dakota, caused concern when he failed to respond to emails or phone calls from family.

So they scoured his credit card bills and discovered he had bought a one-way bus ticket from Omaha, Nebraska to Manhattan, New York.

His father and uncle flew to New York City from their homes in Waunakee, Wisconsin, and began handing out fliers with his photo to protesters.

Schmidt eventually responded to a relative's text message, two days after his parents reported him missing to campus police, and he met up with his father and uncle in New York.

The political science student travelled to New York City with just $40 in his pocket.

He slept on cardboard in Zuccotti Park as he didn't have a sleeping bag and survived on donated food from other protesters.

But Schmidt said it was something he had to do – and didn’t understand why anyone had to know about his plan to take the 1,200-mile trip.

'I wanted to learn more about it,’ said Schmidt, who had previously taken part in small Occupy Wall Street protests in Nebraska and South Dakota.

‘It's hard to know exactly what's going on with something until you experience it yourself. It's hard to judge something from afar from reading things simply online.’