Benjamin Fink, a 55-year-old Sacramento resident, moved into a boarding house at 1426 F Street on March 9, 1988. Frail, using a cane and reportedly suffering from alcoholism and pneumonia, he lived quietly and rarely left his room. Weeks after his arrival he vanished; a landlady told other tenants she would “take Ben upstairs and make him feel better,” and later claimed he had moved to Marysville.

Months passed while the landlady continued cashing his Social Security and benefit checks. In November 1988 investigators digging in the boarding house backyard found seven buried bodies. Fink’s remains were recovered wrapped in plastic, a knotted bedspread, and duct tape, with absorbent pads nearby. Toxicology detected sedatives including amitriptyline, loxapine, and flurazepam, but decomposition prevented a definitive cause of death and the coroner listed it as undetermined. The jury later convicted the landlady of first-degree murder for Fink and others.

Who knew Benjamin, lived near 1426 F Street in 1988, or remembers anyone bringing him meals or medication in those weeks before he disappeared?