Obaidullah James Shams, 30 and from San Diego, was last seen October 8, 1997, in Lancaster, California. He planned to travel to northern California with a friend and said he would stop at a friend’s house in Palmdale; after that stop he vanished. His vehicle was found abandoned behind a Holiday Inn in Victorville on October 14, 1997, with the keys still in the ignition, and foul play is suspected.

Shams used the names Chams Shams and James Anderson. Investigators have identified one of the last people reported to see him as Chas Timothy Davis, who was arrested on unrelated drug charges in 1998 and was questioned about Shams’ disappearance; no charges have been filed in the missing-person case. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department classifies Shams as endangered missing and continues to seek tips.

Did anyone in Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, or along the route north remember seeing Shams, his vehicle, or anyone traveling with him in October 1997?