A missing California man was found alive 25 years later after his sister saw a photo of him in a newspaper article.
The man who had been missing since August 1999 in Doyle, Calif., was found sitting on a sidewalk in South Los Angeles last week, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his older sister.
She told the publication that her brother “simply disappeared without a trace” 25 years ago, noting that even his vehicle was “never found”.
His photo was published on the USA Today newspaper in April 2024, asking the public to identify a man who had been admitted to a Los Angeles area hospital.
Being non-verbal, he was then transferred to another hospital in the Los Angeles area in July 2024 and was never identified.
When his sister saw the image in the newspaper, she discovered it was indeed her missing brother and contacted the Lassen County Sheriff’s Department on Friday, according to a Facebook post.
“Long story short, thanks to the fingerprints, a match was made,” she wrote on the GoFundMe. All this time I had been looking for unidentified remains. I was delighted to find him alive.”
The Sheriff’s Department confirms that fingerprints were taken and police were able to positively identify the man as the one reported missing in 1999 from Doyle, California.
Her sister, who lives in Lynwood, California, wants her medically transferred to a facility in Lassen County, which is closer to her home.
The brother would have just learned to walk, he would start eating normally and would not speak.
– With information from CNN
