Case Details

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This person was missing Missing Since 02/18/1986

Missing Since:

Missing Since 02/18/1986

Missing From:

Missing From Los Angeles, California

Classification:

Classification Endangered Missing

Gender:

Male

Race:

Race Black

Date of Birth:

Date of Birth 10/12/1924 (100)

Age:

Age 61 years old

Height and Weight:

Height and Weight 5’7, 165 pounds

Clothing/Jewelry Description:

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Distinguishing Characteristics African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes.

Details of Disappearance:

Cain disappeared from his Los Angeles home on February 18, 1986. He said he was going to the hardware store but never came back. The next day, he called in sick to work. A few days later, police found a confused man who gave them Cain’s sister’s phone number; the man was gone by the time she arrived, but it’s thought he was Cain.

A month later, Cain’s car was found 20 miles away, with his belongings – glasses, dentures, and important papers – still inside. Police learned he’d visited a gas station the day after he disappeared, seemed unwell (staggering, slurred speech), and had car repairs done. He had a phone card that was used several times afterward to call numbers from job ads in the newspaper.

Cain was a hardworking family man, so police think he might have ended up in a hospital as an unidentified patient (“John Doe”). There was also a possible sighting of him in Topeka, Kansas, using the name Elmer Jackson, but this was never confirmed.

Because no one has heard from him since 1986, Cain was declared legally dead in 1995. His disappearance remains a mystery.

Agency:

Los Angeles Police Department 213-485-3261

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