Missing
Rogest Cain
Cain, approximately 1986
Date and time person was reported missing : 02/18/1986
Missing location (approx) :
Los Angeles, California
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
Black
DOB : 10/12/1924 (96)
Age at the time of disappearance: 61 years old
Height / Weight : 5'7, 165 pounds
Medical conditions : Cain may have suffered from a stroke and resulting memory loss after his disappearance.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: African-American male. Black hair, brown eyes.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Cain was last seen at his home in Los Angeles, California on the afternoon of February 18, 1986. He said he was going to the hardware store. He never returned. The next day, Cain called a friend and said he was not feeling well and would not be going to work.
Two days after that, the police came in contact with a man who appeared confused. He gave them Cain's sister's telephone number and she came to see him, but by the time she arrived the man was gone. He is believed to have been Cain. He has never been heard from again.
One month after Cain's disappearance, his car was found parked on a busy street twenty miles from his home. His eyeglasses, dentures and all his papers, including the deed to his home and insurance information, were found inside the vehicle.
Authorities discovered Cain had spoken to a mechanic at a gas station near where the car was found, the day after his disappearance. He paid to have it repaired. The mechanic stated he was staggering and swaying as he walked, and his speech was slurred.
Cain was carrying a phone card at the time of his disappearance. The card was used several times after he was seen at the gas station. All the calls were placed to telephone numbers listed in want ads in local newspapers. He may have been trying to find a job.
Cain is described as a dedicated family man and a hard worker. Authorities believe he may have been taken to a hospital for treatment as a "John Doe" patient. There was a possible sighting of him in Topeka, Kansas after his disappearance; the man resembling Cain was calling himself Elmer Jackson. Jackson had disappeared by the time police arrived, however, and he has never been confirmed to be Cain.
Cain was declared legally dead in 1995. His disappearance remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Los Angeles Police Department
213-485-3261
September 2021 updates and sources
California Attorney General's Office
The Doe Network
Unsolved Mysteries
October 12, 2004. January 2, 2019; picture added.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map