Inocente Richmond Yanez, known as Shawn, was 26 when he disappeared from his mother’s home on May Avenue in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. His mother returned from work on January 5, 1999, to find the house with lights and the television on and a few beer cans in the sink, but Shawn was gone. He was 6 feet 2 inches, 180 pounds, with light brown hair and brown eyes, had surgical scars on both wrists, a speech impediment, and sometimes used the aliases Chavez and Gomez.

Shawn left all his personal belongings behind, including his coat and cigarettes, and his family says it was out of character for him to abandon his six-year-old son. Relatives recalled he expected a friend to give him a ride that day, but the friend and destination are unknown. Investigators noted some involvement with drugs at the time and have classified the case as an endangered, suspicious disappearance, but the trail has gone cold.

Did anyone in Tahlequah or the surrounding area know Shawn’s associates, the friend who might have given him a ride, or have information about where he might have gone?