By Nelson Belen, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Twenty-year-old British rapper, Kenny Mukendi, or as he is more famously known, Kenny Vulcan, has been missing in Rio de Janeiro since Friday, April 13th. He last texted his girlfriend that he was leaving the ODKIL recording studio in Barra da Tijuca where he spent the night recording and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
“Kenny sent me messages telling me that he was going to sleep in the studio, and he woke up early on Friday afternoon and decided to leave, and he was not seen anymore,” Vulcan’s Brazilian girlfriend, Renata Lima, told Globo news.
A few hours after texting with her boyfriend, Lima received an alarming notification on her phone that Vulcan’s Instagram account was closed. “I thought it was strange, but then when I went to find his account, it had been deleted.”
“Then I found that his Facebook account had also been deleted. I began to get worried, because Kenny uses his social media accounts for everything, to publicize his work, to find the things he needs.” She added, “He wouldn’t have deleted his accounts, he just wouldn’t.”
Rio’s missing person’s department (Delegacia de Descoberta de Paradeiros) has been actively investigating Vulcan’s disappearance, saying in a statement, “We have already taken statements from witnesses and we are analyzing security camera images of the areas near the site where the Londoner disappeared.”
As of this writing, authorities are also investigating a charge on Vulcan’s bank card that occurred on Saturday, April 14th, the day after he vanished.
Last week, Vulcan’s family in London launched a fundraiser website in an attempt to cover some of the costs to search for the missing artist.
A London native, Vulcan had been in Rio de Janeiro since December to study acting, music, and theater.
At the time of his disappearance, the six-foot-one Vulcan was wearing a CR Flamengo red and black football (soccer) shirt, black trousers, white Nike sneakers and a baseball cap.
He speaks little Portuguese and was sporting dyed blue hair.