Sol Salomon, 35, a former Israeli soldier who ran a fire extinguisher maintenance business in Northridge, California, was last seen on October 12, 1982. He reportedly left that day with a business associate, Harvey Rader, to attend a car auction. That same night his wife Elaine, their 9-year-old son Mitchell, and Elaine’s 15-year-old daughter Michalle also disappeared from the family home.

A neighbor raised the alarm on October 13 after noticing the family’s swimming pool overflowing. The home was locked and dark; the work van and the Rolls Royce were in the driveway while the Mercedes was missing and the family dog was found in the backyard. Valuables including jewelry and cash were left behind, but a later search uncovered blood splatters and a broken bed in the daughter’s room. Personal items belonging to the family were later found scattered along the Antelope Valley Freeway near Acton, and authorities treated the case as a homicide.

Prosecutors focused on Rader, alleging a soured business deal and a $20,000 dispute provided motive. He was tried three times; juries failed to produce a conviction and he was acquitted in July 1992. No bodies, murder weapon, or eyewitnesses have ever been found and the family’s disappearance remains unsolved.

Did anyone living in Northridge in October 1982 ever see the Salomons’ Mercedes or recognize any of the personal items found near Acton?