Richard Andrew Rader II, a 50-year-old man, was last seen on August 13, 2001, in San Francisco, California. He was fishing for albacore or salmon in the Pacific Ocean, south of the Golden Gate Bridge, on his 40-foot boat named the "Robert Croll". Rader was wearing a blue sweatshirt and blue jeans at the time of his disappearance. He was described as a white male, 5'10" tall, weighing 180 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.
A notable characteristic was a scar on his left cheek.
Rader's family reported him missing after he failed to return from his fishing trip. A massive search was initiated by the Coast Guard. On August 22, 2001, his boat, the "Robert Croll," was discovered adrift by a Coast Guard plane about 25 miles west of Morro Bay. The vessel was unoccupied, out of fuel, and the batteries were dead. There was no sign of Richard Rader II.
The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department was the investigating agency for this case. For years, the case remained a missing person investigation, with investigators believing he had drowned at sea.
In 2003, a significant development occurred when a fisherman in Monterey Bay pulled up a human skull in a fishing net. However, at the time, the remains could not be identified. It wasn't until October 2023 that a breakthrough was made. The Monterey County District Attorney's Office Cold Case Task Force, in collaboration with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office Coroner Division and the California Department of Justice DNA Lab, was able to positively identify the remains as those of Richard Andrew Rader II through the use of modern DNA extraction methods.Last Seen: Aug 13, 2001
