CA CA - Farren Stanberry, 18, San Francisco, 24 Apr 1980

[Odyssey]

@Ciriii57 I just looked at the screenshots for the Unclaimed Property and noticed something I hadn't before.

Now there is an unclaimed property for a Faith Stanberry listed just below the F Stanberry. The property ID# for Faith is 10 digits long, while both the F Stanberry and the Farren Stanberry are 7 digits. I'm wondering if that would suggest that both F and Farren are from around the same time period. That would make it more likely that they're both his. I wish they listed dates and I wish the F Stanberry Marriott one at least listed a city.

 

[Satch]

This case has caught my interest. I've read through the thread and Pillar Point Doe was mentioned in 2020.
Pillar Point Doe - DNA Doe Project Cases
The article says, "Authorities speculate they may have been killed at another location and then transported to the scene, possibly from the Tenderloin area of San Francisco." This is where the National Hotel was.
The person has now been identified, but no further details released as they were waiting on confirmation by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
If this was Farren, his profile would be down, correct? Unless they are still working on confirmation?

I'm also kind of confused that the missing date is 5/30/1980, but the aunt said they dropped him off at a campground in June 1980. Has that been cleared up at all?

Thanks for the link!

I'll check it out. But to my knowledge the only verified date that Farren went missing, (or as close as we can get) is May 1, 1980, This is the date that John Day PD has on file for Farren going missing.

We think that the April 24, 1980 date, is the date that Farren left the National Hotel and was not heard from again. That last phone call that Farren made to his mother and grandmother could have been as early as April 10, 1980, perhaps as early as April 3, 1980. As the last contact from Farren and the family calling,wondering why they never heard back from Farren was 'several weeks later."

That June 1980 date from Farren's Aunt and Grandmother dropping Farren off at the campsite HAS to be wrong, It has to be wrong. That date connects with no other dates associated with the case. It is so wrong, that I think a fact check should have revealed that it should not have been published. And I am sure @Ciriii57 will agree with me about that date. If that date June date were to be correct, the April 24, 1980 dates and the May 1, 1980 dates would make no sense.

It is also that contradiction that Farren took a Greyhound bus to the EAST Coast? Again, that doesn't make sense. Unless Farren came home for an earlier visit late in 1979 or very early in 1980. (See below) We believe that Farren had been in San Francisco for at least six months before going missing. But if you try to follow the crazy time line, it's like Farren was in San Francisco for a few weeks and than he was gone. No! He built up a relationship with friends, possible lovers in the gay community, for months in San Francisco. It is most likely that he embarked on a very happy and (all things considered) successful life in San Francisco till he lost his job. How far away was the Marriott from the National Hotel in 1980? The hotel manager would not have remembered Farren if he had been at the National Hotel for only a brief period of time.

I think Farren was dropped off at that campsite early 1980 after coming home for the holidays to visit his Aunt and Grandmother, and I think his Grandmother and Aunt dropped him off there. BUT, in reality that could have happened much, much earlier than June of 1980. It would have allowed the possibility and likelihood of Farren coming home in Thanksgiving of 1979 and Christmas of 1979 to visit. I think Farren could have very well come home to visit. His Mother, and only his Mother, was the one whom I believe was the only one causing tension in their relationship.

If Farren's Aunt and Grandmother took Farren to the campsite from January to March of 1980 than, Farren's Aunt is recollecting the last time she saw Farren in person than it works. Farren could have moved from the East Coast to the West Coast over many months. He could have started out, boarding a bus around September of 1979 to "see the world." Calls home every 2-3 weeks. Comes home to visit in Thanksgiving, 1979 at least Christmas 1979. (Farren's potentially last "in person at home contact.) Than in January to March of 1980, (We don't know, how long Farren stayed home after Christmas of 1979 IF that happened.) the Aunt and Grandma take Farren to that Oregon campground.

Forget that incorrect June 1980 date, and we have a timeline that can "sort of" be followed. A question for the community? Why is there so much date confusion in this case?

Satch

 

[Odyssey]

@Satch I know, the date confusion is insane. I really don't understand the whole campground thing at all. If he was going to see the world, why not be dropped off at a Greyhound station?

I wonder if he was, at least initially, traveling with someone else who was also roaming around the country and was staying at that campground. Maybe Farren ran across this person in Oregon and they convinced him to join them on their travels? No evidence of this at all but I can't think of any reason he would be dropped off there of all places. He would have needed a way to get from that campground to the Greyhound and that just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

 

[Satch]

Hi All!

Sup? I used photo enhancing software to create an enlarged head-shot of Farren that might help with facial features. Feel free to share it on any missing person's sites that you think might help!

Satch

 

[Ciriii57]

GUYS!!! I have lots to post in answer your comments (so please excuse any spamming later!) and I am also just about to send a message to John Day Police to see if they can clear up a few things BUT the below photo of Farren was shared to me by a member of "California Missing And Wanted Persons" and I have never seen it before so I was desperate to share it with you. I have asked her if she can let me know the year it was taken (as I feel like he looks a bit older in this photo). She also told me that Farren was listed as alive in his father's obituary of 1993, but I said that was probably as he was never declared dead.

Edit: I have also put all the photos side by side. I still worry that the first one with the more reddish coloured hair is not even Farren. But I can see the similarities between the rest.

 

[Satch]

GUYS!!! I have lots to post in answer your comments (so please excuse any spamming later!) and I am also just about to send a message to John Day Police to see if they can clear up a few things BUT the below photo of Farren was shared to me by a member of "California Missing And Wanted Persons" and I have never seen it before so I was desperate to share it with you. I have asked her if she can let me know the year it was taken (as I feel like he looks a bit older in this photo). She also told me that Farren was listed as alive in his father's obituary of 1993, but I said that was probably as he was never declared dead.

WOW!

Thank you for this photo @Ciriii57! I have never seen this either! I actually enlarged and enhanced this one is well, for better facial recognition! We are making great progress!

Satch

 

[Ciriii57]

WOW!

Thank you for this photo @Ciriii57! I have never seen this either! I actually enlarged and enhanced this one is well, for better facial recognition! We are making great progress!

Satch

Amazing Satch! Thats much clearer!
Does anyone know what school he attended? I am thinking of also posting something local to John Day area and see if we can't drum up some memories of him.

 

[Satch]

GUYS!!! I have lots to post in answer your comments (so please excuse any spamming later!) and I am also just about to send a message to John Day Police to see if they can clear up a few things BUT the below photo of Farren was shared to me by a member of "California Missing And Wanted Persons" and I have never seen it before so I was desperate to share it with you. I have asked her if she can let me know the year it was taken (as I feel like he looks a bit older in this photo). She also told me that Farren was listed as alive in his father's obituary of 1993, but I said that was probably as he was never declared dead.

Edit: I have also put all the photos side by side. I still worry that the first one with the more reddish coloured hair is not even F

arren. But I can see the similarities between the rest

Hey!

Sorry for the "broken quote!" I could not find a way to delete or fix an already quoted message. I want to add that the published photos of Farren that exist, he almost looks like a different person in some of them! The one that I posted and enlarged, and the one that @Ciriii57 posted and I enlarged, seem to be the closest in time frame to when Farren went missing.

Satch

 

[Ciriii57]

Hey!

Sorry for the "broken quote!" I could not find a way to delete or fix an already quoted message. I want to add that the published photos of Farren that exist, he almost looks like a different person in some of them! The one that I posted and enlarged, and the one that @Ciriii57 posted and I enlarged, seem to be the closest in time frame to when Farren went missing.

Satch

I agree I think he looks a bit older in those two, but the lips are identical on both. He seems to have been one of those people that looks different in every photo but I would guess the one that we are questioning is when he was alot younger.

Regarding the John Day Police...they closed down in October 2021 due to budget restraints!! I didn't even know a police force could just close down! I am not sure where to turn now; I think that responsibility went to the Grant County Sheriff's Office so I will follow up with them but I am not hopeful as they probably don't know about the case and will be busier Still worth a shot

 

[Satch]

Guys,

Looking back on the thread, it was reported that Farren went to Grant Union High School in John Day. Oregon Someone in the thread is the year of his high school yearbook photo. But I can't find the year! Here is the photo. (Estimated cira 1977) is pretty close:

Satch

 

[Ciriii57]

Guys,

Looking back on the thread, it was reported that Farren went to Grant Union High School in John Day. Oregon Someone in the thread is the year of his high school yearbook photo. But I can't find the year! Here is the photo. (Estimated cira 1977) is pretty close:

Satch

That one looks alot like the "younger" one with the reddish hair. If he was about 16 there and 18 in the others it is plausible that he did change a bit, his face filled out and he changed his hair.

 

[Ciriii57]

Ok everyone, just to update you; there is no longer a John Day Police Department so I have just emailed The Sheriff of Grant County. I also copied in Sergeant Damon Rand, who you might remember is the officer who Farren's aunt said had worked so hard on this case in the article she said she dropped him at the campsite in June 1980. If anyone can clarify things I guess it would be him! I explained the problems we were having with the timeline and asked if they could claifify things. I also told them everything we know and asked if there was anything further they were able to share.
FINGERS CROSSED!!

I also perfomed a search of Oregon unclaimed property just in case and Farren wasn't listed at all. I assume that means the money he wanted from his Mother wasn't in a bank account.

 

[Ciriii57]

Maybe because the hotel catered to transits, the homeless, and low-income people, that there were special provisions that could be made if you had financial trouble? Many of the hotel guests at National were coming off the street with nothing. So to get thrown out, it would seem that you would REALLY have to be late in paying, or be a trouble-making tenant.

I would love to believe that thre were special provisions for late payers but we have to keep in mind that this was a business and was there to make money. It could be possible that the City would give them money for taking in the homeless but if Farren was a paying guest I imagine if he didn't pay he would lose the room.
Someone had posted the below ad earlier in the thread. It is from 1988, so I would imagine that in 1980 the rates would have been a bit cheaper. Rooms were charged at $20 a day or $84 a week up-front. That seems quite expensive for a transient hotel. Even if we assume that the rates were somewhat cheaper in 1980 and maybe Farren had some cash on him as well as the bank account, it means he POSSIBLY could only afford 1 week and maybe not even that.


I have never really considered this before, but IF Farren became homeless is it possible that he just ended up lost on the streets of San Francisco; no permanent address could cause huge problems. I have read that once a person becomes homeless it is almost impossible for them to get out of that situation and even if they have family etc they can just kind of stay homeless and drift deeper into problems (prostitution, drugs, crime etc...). Worth considering. I have no idea how you would go about trying to ID SF's homeless.

It also does not make sense that if they are all sharing expenses, say 3-4 men in the room, that the bill would fall on Farren's lap? Or that he was visiting a gay man there, "Staying with a group of young men" which Farren communicated via phone call is not visiting!

Yep, I still cannot get my head around this. And you're right...if the manager remembers Farren visiting then why didn't he mention he was also a guest. And more importantly...if Farren had left without paying but then used to visit wouldn't the management be pis**ed at him since he owed them money?? Something is wrong here..something else!

 

[Odyssey]

I would love to believe that thre were special provisions for late payers but we have to keep in mind that this was a business and was there to make money. It could be possible that the City would give them money for taking in the homeless but if Farren was a paying guest I imagine if he didn't pay he would lose the room.
Someone had posted the below ad earlier in the thread. It is from 1988, so I would imagine that in 1980 the rates would have been a bit cheaper. Rooms were charged at $20 a day or $84 a week up-front. That seems quite expensive for a transient hotel. Even if we assume that the rates were somewhat cheaper in 1980 and maybe Farren had some cash on him as well as the bank account, it means he POSSIBLY could only afford 1 week and maybe not even that.
View attachment 423324

I have never really considered this before, but IF Farren became homeless is it possible that he just ended up lost on the streets of San Francisco; no permanent address could cause huge problems. I have read that once a person becomes homeless it is almost impossible for them to get out of that situation and even if they have family etc they can just kind of stay homeless and drift deeper into problems (prostitution, drugs, crime etc...). Worth considering. I have no idea how you would go about trying to ID SF's homeless.


Yep, I still cannot get my head around this. And you're right...if the manager remembers Farren visiting then why didn't he mention he was also a guest. And more importantly...if Farren had left without paying but then used to visit wouldn't the management be pis**ed at him since he owed them money?? Something is wrong here..something else!

My feeling on visiting the gay man is that the manager didn't want to out him as gay to his uncle so he made it sound like Farren was just visiting/caring for a gay man who later died of aids.

Since he had previously told Farren's grandmother that Farren left without paying and left his belongings there, I think he was a resident there. Even more so because he gave that address on his bank account.

 

[Mfleish]

I did a little more digging into Pillar Point Doe and found an article where they are mentioned in Vice and another article from Canada. Both indicate that Pillar Point Doe has ties to Utah with roots in the Mormon church. Doing some cursory genealogy research based on Farren's father and grandmother, I think we are able to rule Farren out as a possibility.

I have never really considered this before, but IF Farren became homeless is it possible that he just ended up lost on the streets of San Francisco; no permanent address could cause huge problems. I have read that once a person becomes homeless it is almost impossible for them to get out of that situation and even if they have family etc they can just kind of stay homeless and drift deeper into problems (prostitution, drugs, crime etc...). Worth considering. I have no idea how you would go about trying to ID SF's homeless.

With the three UIDs discussed early in the thread not a match, I also did a quick search of other UIDs using the keyword "wrist" since we know he had two broken wrists and didn't find any close matches. We know Farren left his bank account untouched, but if he became homeless and maybe turned to making money on the streets, he may not have had access to the bank account. He also may have been too ashamed to call home again. I was leaning more towards deceased when I found this thread, but now I'm feeling more 50/50. Though we don't have confirmation that he was gay, I can't help but think that if he were alive and possibly homeless, the AIDS crisis could have played a role in his fate as well.

Have we got any firsthand information from the manager or just what Farren's uncle relayed?

 

[Odyssey]

I did a little more digging into Pillar Point Doe and found an article where they are mentioned in Vice and another article from Canada. Both indicate that Pillar Point Doe has ties to Utah with roots in the Mormon church. Doing some cursory genealogy research based on Farren's father and grandmother, I think we are able to rule Farren out as a possibility.



With the three UIDs discussed early in the thread not a match, I also did a quick search of other UIDs using the keyword "wrist" since we know he had two broken wrists and didn't find any close matches. We know Farren left his bank account untouched, but if he became homeless and maybe turned to making money on the streets, he may not have had access to the bank account. He also may have been too ashamed to call home again. I was leaning more towards deceased when I found this thread, but now I'm feeling more 50/50. Though we don't have confirmation that he was gay, I can't help but think that if he were alive and possibly homeless, the AIDS crisis could have played a role in his fate as well.

Have we got any firsthand information from the manager or just what Farren's uncle relayed?

As far as I know, only the third UID of the three mentioned earlier has been ruled out. I don't remember if the other two had DNA available or not, so they might be automatic ruleouts now that Farren's DNA has been entered.

We have never been able to locate either of the managers to get any first hand information, so all we have is what Farren's uncle and grandmother relayed.

I don't remember if I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but in 1982 a resident was shot in his room by another resident and the victim sued the hotel, claiming that management heard the altercation and didn't do anything about it until he was shot. It was from these court records that I was able to find the names of the managers. The gay victim was presenting the incident as a hate crime. I don't know who won the case, and the managers said there was a TV on at the front desk and they didn't hear anything. This was two years after Farren disappeared so it had nothing to do with him, but it just kind of gives an idea of what the hotel and area may have been like.

 

[Ciriii57]

Maybe I'm just in denial but to this day I am wondering if that UID really was Farren. I remember reading a news article around that time about the SF Medical Examiners office being so understaffed that everything was backlogged for almost a year, yet they responded that it wasn't a match after only 2 days. The whole thing was just really strange.

Hey Odyssey! If you really are convinced then perhaps you should submit it again. It's not a rule out right? And the staff that you originally spoke to may have moved on now. It is possible that there is DNA from the UID now?
But it is possible that there was something that the Medical Examiner saw that ruled that UID out quickly. I would guess at the wrists or appendectomy scar, or differences in the teeth. Unfortunately we have to trust that the ME made the right call in this don't we.

both the F Stanberry and the Farren Stanberry are 7 digits. I'm wondering if that would suggest that both F and Farren are from around the same time period. That would make it more likely that they're both his.

Great job spotting that! I would never have picked up on that. It makes sense if the numbers are just in order of when they were recieved. Whether or not the Marriott one is actually his could be quite important as it would be the difference between him having $42 or $140 (ish). In todays money thats either $154 or $360-it's a big difference! Not something you would voluntarily leave I think.

If this was Farren, his profile would be down, correct? Unless they are still working on confirmation?

I'm also kind of confused that the missing date is 5/30/1980, but the aunt said they dropped him off at a campground in June 1980. Has that been cleared up at all?

Hey @Mfleish and welcome and thanks for contributing!
Pillar Point John Doe is definitely NOT Farren. This is the John Doe from the article that the SF Coroner had thought could have been Farren, he contacted his uncle and it was ruled out as being Farren based on the appendix scar. That's the article that mentions Farren as being missing since 1982!
Regarding Farren's NamuS page being down, I am not sure how it works but is anyone else having issues with NamUs at the moment; I am getting ZERO results for every search, even if I do a search with basic paramaters of "male, white"...Nothing?! It seems there are currently no missing or unidentified persons in the US at all!

That June 1980 date from Farren's Aunt and Grandmother dropping Farren off at the campsite HAS to be wrong, It has to be wrong. That date connects with no other dates associated with the case. It is so wrong, that I think a fact check should have revealed that it should not have been published. And I am sure @Ciriii57 will agree with me about that date. If that date June date were to be correct, the April 24, 1980 dates and the May 1, 1980 dates would make no sense.

Hey Satch! I don't know...while I agree that we have definite issues with the dates, something is definitely wrong..I am not so keen on just abandoning this one. Reason being; this is a specific memory from his Aunt. She is remembering the last time she actually saw Farren and that seems to me something she wouldn't forget or mix up easily. Even if the dates are off, it is still odd that the campsite story is totally different to the "farren getting on a greyhound bus" story. So I can't just ignore this story at least.
The only thing I can think is that this was the nearest place where the Greyhound picked up passengers and she got the year/month wrong. But it seems an awfully isolated place to be picking up passengers, is this normal? I agree that everything seems to point to Farren having been in SF for a much longer time.
It also concerns me that we seem to have 3 stories mentioning 3 wildy differing dates and we are assuming that 2 of them are wrong. What if the first date that we have always assumed was correct, was in fact wrong. There seems some confusion in the reporting as to whether he called his family in May or June, so how could he have been reported missing on May 1st and disappeared April 24th? At the moment I don't know that I trust ANY date until there is more to go on TBH. That doesn't help I know!

 

[Ciriii57]

Update-I have heard back from the Sheriff of Grant County who has the file in front of him and will be getting Sergeant Rand to reach out to me. He wanted to call me but since I am several time zones away in a different continent and at work I asked him if he wouldn't mind emailing instead. <modsnip>

 

[Satch]

The only thing I can think is that this was the nearest place where the Greyhound picked up passengers and she got the year/month wrong. But it seems an awfully isolated place to be picking up passengers, is this normal? I agree that everything seems to point to Farren having been in SF for a much longer time.
It also concerns me that we seem to have 3 stories mentioning 3 wildy differing dates and we are assuming that 2 of them are wrong. What if the first date that we have always assumed was correct, was in fact wrong. There seems some confusion in the reporting as to whether he called his family in May or June, so how could he have been reported missing on May 1st and disappeared April 24th? At the moment I don't know that I trust ANY date until there is more to go on TBH.

Hey @Ciriii57,

Agree about the dates. Due to the fact there are several different dates and confusion regarding Farren's activities regarding those dates,we really can't totally discount any dates until more evidence is verified. Right now we have April 24, 1980 as a possible date when Farren left the National Hotel, although no evidence of that from LE. May 1, 1980. The date that John Day Oregon PD (now defunct!) says Farren was reported missing, and June 1980, as the date that Farren's Aunt remembers dropping off Farren at the campground.

It also seems that Farren MAY have done some hitchhiking along the way. We still don't know what "Seeing the World" actually meant. It really sounds like a vague and risky venue:

Farren- "I am gonna go off and see the world."

Aunt/Grandma- "OK, we'll miss you."

Farren- "Don't worry, I'll call, and we will keep in touch. Love you!

I know times were different back in 1980. But do you think that Farren gave a projected roadmap of the places and cities that he wanted to see that has never been made public? How many actual phone conversations did Farren have on his journeys before he disappeared? Did Farren keep a diary of his travels? Oh man, that would be worth a million dollars to get!!!

OR

Farren knew about San Francisco all along! That was his intended destination and he headed for the West Coast right from the very beginning! The "See the World" was something that he HAD to tell his family, where his really mission was to find and bond with the gay community? Something that his Aunt and Grandmother would not like him doing, and his Mother would absolutely despise him for making that decision.

And what if that June 1980 campground drop off story by his Aunt IS correct. And Farren had this isolated meeting place picked out for a direct ride to San Freanciso all along. Even if the Aunt has the date/year wrong. That campsite could have been a meeting place at ANY time or year, once Farren was legal age and could do what he wanted. He had to say, "See the World" to avoid a family backlash, when he really wanted to "explore the gay community." Especially if he never knew his father, or never had male connections growing up as a kid?

Satch

 

[Odyssey]

Update-I have heard back from the Sheriff of Grant County who has the file in front of him and will be getting Sergeant Rand to reach out to me. He wanted to call me but since I am several time zones away in a different continent and at work I asked him if he wouldn't mind emailing instead. <modsnip>

That name (Rand) sounds kind of familiar, I think he might be the second LE contact I spoke with, the one who asked SF for a comparison. If it's the same person he is helpful and open to discussing the case.

He isn't the "I can't comment because it's an open investigation" type. I got the sense that he really wants to find Farren.