CA Man Reported Missing 25 Years Ago To Reunite With Sister

LOS ANGELES, CA — A man who went missing from Northern California in 1999 turned up in the Southland this spring, and soon, he will be reunited with his sister, officials said earlier this week.

The man, who has not been publicly identified, turned up in South Los Angeles on April 15 and was promptly taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

The hospital wasn't able to reach any family members for the patient, who is non-verbal.

That all changed when the Lassen County Sheriff's Office received a call from a woman who said she had information on a previously reported missing person, according to the sheriff's office.

The woman told Sheriff's Deputy Derek Kennemore that someone sent her an article from USA TODAY that had published a picture of a man she believed to be her long-lost brother.

Her brother had gone missing from Doyle in 1999 and hadn't been heard from since. In April, USA TODAY published an article asking the public to help identify the man.

Kennemore called the hospital, which had transferred the patient in question to another hospital in July. The hospitals had been trying to identify the man for nearly six months.

The officer then called the other hospital, who confirmed that they had a man fitting that description in their care. Once Kennemore was able to contact the Missing Persons Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department, authorities were able to fingerprint the man, who was positively identified as the woman's brother, who went missing decades ago.

Kennemore called the woman, whose identity hasn't been disclosed, to inform her that the man she saw in the newspaper was indeed her brother.

"The family will be reunited soon," Captain Mike Carney of the Lassen County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement.

"The Lassen County Sheriff’s Office would like to commend Deputy Kennemore on his tenacity with this case. We would also like to thank the Los Angeles Police Department for their assistance in identifying the missing man and closing out this 25-year-old case."