Man Vanished in California in 1965 and Was Reported Missing 18 Years Later. Now He Has Been Identified By Liam Quinn

A California man who vanished in 1965 was eventually reported missing nearly two decades later in 1983 — and his remains have just been identified.

Ronald Joseph Cole was reported missing to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) on Oct. 25, 1983. But, during a subsequent investigation, police discovered that Cole actually hadn’t been seen since 1965 — when he was just 19 years old.

“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.

Police, however, were unable to find evidence of a crime or any trace of Cole. Though La Fever was named a suspect, he was never charged with a crime and the investigation remained open for years, Ventura County authorities said.

La Fever died in Alaska in 2007.

In 2024, the Henry County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois began reviewing a cold case that included the discovery of a human skull with a bullet hole that had been found in 1966 in Geneseo. The case had been classified as a homicide, according to the VCSO.

“Investigators with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office worked with DNA Doe Project and were able to identify potential family members,” Ventura County authorities said. “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.”

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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 Jan. 15 update.

Authorities did not say how Cole’s remains wound up in Illinois or if they think he was killed there.