California Shocker: Man who vanished in 1965, reported missing 18 years later, finally identified; suspect named

A shocking case has surfaced in California where remains of a man, who was reported missing in 1983, have been identified now in 2026. The man identified as Ronald Joseph Cole vanished in 1965 when he was just 19 years old. was eventually reported missing nearly two decades later in 1983.

Cole was reported missing to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office (VCSO) on October 25, 1983. After an investigation was launched, police subsequently discovered that Cole actually hadn't been seen since 1965.

"Family members of Ronald Cole believed he was missing under suspicious circumstances and suspected Ronald Cole’s half-brother, David La Fever, was responsible for Ronald Cole’s disappearance," the sheriff's office said in a cold case update, as quoted by PEOPLE.


La Fever was named a suspect, he was never charged with a crime and the investigation remained open for years. He died in Alaska in 2007. Ventura County authorities said that despite naming a prime suspect, no evidence or charges were possible, and the case remained open for decades.

Case revisited in 2024: Check latest timeline

In a Facebook post, Ventura County Sheriff's Office said that in 2024, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office revisited a 1966 cold case involving unidentified skeletal remains found in Illinois and classified as a homicide. “With help from the DNA Doe Project and Astrea Forensics, investigators identified the remains,” the sheriff's Office said.




"Investigators with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office worked with DNA Doe Project and were able to identify potential family members," Ventura County authorities were quoted by PEOPLE as saying.

"In May of 2025, members of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit began working with investigators from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office. Case notes from the Ronald Cole missing person case were shared and information was compared," authorities further stated.

Remains found belonged to Cole

On Jan. 10, 2026, DNA confirmed that the remains found in Geneseo, Ill., belonged to Cole, authorities said. Because of where the remains were found, the Henry County Sheriff's Office "now holds jurisdiction of the homicide investigation," the VCSO said in a January 15, 2026 update.

Authorities, however, remained tight lipped on how Cole's remains wound up in Illinois or if they think he was killed there.