A man who had been missing for 25 years was reunited with his family after a friend recognized him in a news article about missing persons, officials announced on Tuesday. The nonverbal man, believed to be in his 60s, had been living in Los Angeles hospitals for months without staff or authorities knowing his identity.
The breakthrough came when a woman from Lassen County, California, spotted her brother in an April article in USA Today titled “He’s been in an LA hospital for weeks and they have no idea who he is. Can you help?” The man had been at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California, since being found on April 15. He was later transferred to another Los Angeles hospital in July.
The article detailed the man’s mysterious circumstances, noting that he was unable to communicate his name or any information that could assist in identifying him. Due to patient confidentiality laws, the hospital could not share further details about his health.
Upon reading the article, the woman contacted Lassen County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Kennemore, who began investigating. After confirming that the description matched her missing brother, who was reported missing in 1999 from Doyle, California, Kennemore worked with the second hospital and the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit to verify the man’s identity. Fingerprint analysis confirmed it was indeed the missing man.
“The family has asked for their identities not to be revealed,” the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Deputy Kennemore recontacted the woman and informed her that, with the assistance of LAPD, we were able to positively identify the man as her brother. The family will be reunited soon.”
The discovery brings an emotional end to decades of uncertainty for the family, highlighting the power of media and inter-agency cooperation in resolving missing persons cases. The man’s story also underscores the challenges faced by nonverbal individuals in the healthcare and justice systems, emphasizing the importance of ongoing efforts to improve identification processes.
The family has expressed gratitude for the efforts of law enforcement and hospital staff that made the reunion possible.
