CA William Charles Cordes 15 missing from Auburn CA 1984

Moonwalker9

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
1,802
Reaction score
3,188
William Charles Cordes – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

William Charles Cordes
  • william_charles_cordes_1.jpg
  • william_charles_cordes_2.jpg
William, circa 1984; Age-progression to age 48 (circa 2016)

  • Missing Since03/23/1984
  • Missing FromAuburn, California
  • ClassificationEndangered Missing
  • Date of Birth07/11/1968 (50)
  • Age15 years old
  • Height and Weight5'6 - 5'7, 125 - 135 pounds
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. William has a birthmark on his neck. His nicknames are Bill and Billy. He has a capped front tooth and he had stitches in one of his feet at the time of his disappearance.
Details of Disappearance
In 1984, William was residing at a group home, The Children's Home Society, on New Airport Road in Auburn, California. He was sent to live in the home as part of his sentence for stealing $8 worth of beer from a business.

William and some other residents of the home sneaked out and attended a party in a town near Auburn on March 23, 1984. The boys drank beer until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. before leaving to return to the group home.

Their vehicle ran out of gasoline on Interstate 80 near Dry Creek Road. William stayed behind with the car while his companions walked to purchase fuel. His friends discovered that he had disappeared while they were at the gas station. He has never been heard from again.

William's original missing person report was canceled for unknown reasons. As a result, police did not begin to investigate his disappearance until several years had passed.

Due to confidentiality laws, the authorities were not able to get any information about William or his companions from the group home, but William's siblings located and questioned them. The companions claimed they could not remember anything significant about the night William disappeared, although that evening he did break up with his girlfriend. His family believes he met with foul play and is now deceased.

William was a student at Golden Sierra High School at the time of his disappearance. His family describes him as an energetic youth who knew how to ride horses and rope cattle.

Some agencies may classify William as a runaway.
 
William's original missing person report was canceled for unknown reasons. As a result, police did not begin to investigate his disappearance until several years had passed.

RSBM.

There seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding this case. Why would the missing person report on a 15-year-old be cancelled unless there was some proof of his whereabouts? How can there not be a reason documented somewhere?

And if I am understanding correctly, he remained missing for YEARS before police started to investigate? So his own family was ok with him missing for years, not knowing where he was, and knowing his disappearance wasn't being investigated? Strange!!!

I'm just speculating, but I wonder if his home life wasn't very stable, which led to his early criminal behavior and drinking. Maybe they originally thought runaway as it seems that some reports listed him as a runaway...I wonder if he had run away before.

Why would all of the other kids walk to the gas station together and leave him back at the car alone? I wonder if it was ever confirmed that the kids actually went to the gas station to get gas. Also, if they were all minors in a group home, where did they get the vehicle? Who was driving?

So many questions. What a sad case.
 
A report in the Mountain Democrat newspaper from Placerville a year after he went missing specifies that he was with 2 other kids, so it is a bit less odd that he was left alone with the car as they would have had to split 2/1. William was featured on milk cartons about 3 years after he went missing (according to an article in the Washington Post) so the case did have some attention.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
80
Guests online
3,798
Total visitors
3,878

Forum statistics

Threads
592,398
Messages
17,968,350
Members
228,767
Latest member
Mona Lisa
Back
Top