NamUs
Doe Network
Charley Project
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: October 1996 from Honolulu, Hawaii
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: March 11, 1976
Age: 20 years old
Height and Weight: 6'0, 170 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, blue eyes. Branston may have a light brown, curly beard. His hair was long at the time of his 1996 disappearance, and he normally wore it pulled back into a ponytail. He smokes cigarettes.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: Possibly a black and white or tie-dyed shirt, jeans or cut-off shorts, sandals and a scarf-type headband.
Medical Conditions: Branston suffers from schizophrenia and was also severely depressed at the time of his disappearance; he may have been suicidal. He was supposed to be taking Risperdal, an anti-psychotic medication, but he quit taking it before he went missing. Branston also has a history of drug abuse. He is classified as disabled.
Details of Disappearance
Branston was a resident of Lakeport, California in 1996. He told his sister that he imagined traveling to Hawaii and dying during the summer of that year. His family became concerned that he was suicidal. He had had a normal childhood, but in his teens he became troubled, was a poor student and started using drugs. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and began seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication for his condition.
Branston last saw his family on August 1, 1996, just before his parents went to Wyoming for the summer. On August 5, he arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was apparently homeless and living near the Honolulu Airport. He opened a bank account and arranged to have his Social Security payments sent there, and he rented a storage locker at Hy-Pac Self Storage, where he stored his identification, medication, and clothing. Branston deposited his Social Security checks for August and September in his Hawaiian bank account. A teller at the Bank of Hawaii in Kaunakakai, Hawaii says Branston tried to cash a check there in October 1996, but wasn't allowed to because he didn't have any identification. His parents reported him missing with the Lakeport Police Department on October 5.
Hy-Pac Self Storage contacted Branston's parents in November 1996, after he stopped paying the fees for his locker. His parents monitored his bank account for at least a year after his disappearance, but no one deposited or withdrew any funds. There were possible sightings of him on the islands of Oahu, Molokai and Kauai until June 1997, but none of them were confirmed. Branston's case remains unsolved. Both Hawaii and California police are investigating.
Lakeport police continue to seek leads on 20-year-old case
Even after two decades, Lakeport police remain on the hunt for a missing man. Investigators are even developing an image of what the former Lakeport resident would look like today.
On Oct. 5, 1996, Lakeport Police officers were contacted by the parents of Branston, age 20 at the time, who reported that they had not had contact with him since an Aug. 1, 1996 telephone call while they were on vacation out of state. Prior to his parents going on vacation, Branston had advised them that he might move to the state of Hawaii.
After arriving home from vacation Branstons parents found that he was gone but determined that he had transferred his Social Security income to Honolulu, Hawaii and also rented a self-storage locker in that city. Prior to his disappearance, Branston was reportedly taking the medication Risperdal due to being diagnosed with Schizophrenia.
Follow up investigation determined that Branston arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii after traveling alone from California on Aug. 5, 1996. Investigation also determined that he rented a self-storage locker where he left some personal property and then opened a bank account on Aug. 12, 1996.
Further investigation of the bank account records at the time of the report showed that two Social Security Income checks, for the months of August and September 1996 had been deposited into the account but no withdrawals had been made.
Branstons parents continued to monitor the account for as least a year and found that checks continued to be deposited but no money was ever withdrawn while the account was active.
The last confirmed known locations of Branston were in August 1996 at the Honolulu Airport and Hy-Pac Self Storage in Honolulu.
The search for Steven Branston: Family hopes for new leads in long-running missing person's case
http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47720:the-search-for-steven-branston-family-hopes-for-new-leads-in-long-running-missing-persons-case&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197
