Timothy Gerard McKernan was 16 when he vanished from Petaluma, California, on April 23, 1973. That morning he left his home on Weaverly Drive at 10:00 a.m. to ride his bicycle to a supermarket on Washington Street and pay a utility bill for his mother. He completed that errand but never returned home.

A classmate reported seeing Timothy near the library later that day and said he seemed to be acting normally. By 1:00 p.m. his unlocked bicycle was found abandoned outside the Petaluma Public Library, which his family considered out of character because he would never leave his bike unsecured. His family could identify no reason for him to run away; authorities noted both the possibility of foul play and suicide, saying he may have been despondent. Timothy was a sophomore at St. Vincent’s High School, described as 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, about 130 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes, a scar on his lip and two past fractures to his right arm.

The case remains unsolved. Did anyone in Petaluma in April 1973 see Timothy that afternoon or recall his bicycle near the library?