- Missing Since 01/03/1999
- Missing From Oakland, California
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Male
- Race White
- Date of Birth 12/31/1976 (47)
- Age 22 years old
- Height and Weight 5'10, 170 pounds
- Medical Conditions Zino has been diagnosed with mental illness and is required to take medication to control his condition. He has been prescribed the antipsychotic drugs Risperdal and Zyprexa.
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Zino has an abdominal scar extending from his navel to his pubic bone. He has two moles above his upper lip and two additional moles on his right cheek. Zino wears eyeglasses for distance vision. His nickname is Bo.
Details of Disappearance
Zino was on holiday leave from United States military training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in early 1999. He was last seen aboard a bus in Oakland, California on January 3, 1999. Zino planned to travel to San Francisco, California at the time of his disappearance. It is unclear if he arrived at his destination. Zino has never been heard from again.
Prior to his disappearance, Zino had been a student at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. He was originally a Dean's List student, but dropped out of college to take part in the circus. Later on, he re-enrolled, but did not finish the term and received incompletes in all his classes.
He traveled to Israel and spent a few months at a yeshiva, a Jewish religious school, but dropped out and went to live with his grandmother in Tel Aviv, Israel. While he was in Israel, Zino's behavior changed dramatically. He so alarmed his mother during a telephone conversation that she flew from the United States to Tel Aviv and made him seek psychiatric attention.
Zino was prescribed the antipsychotic medication Risperdal and placed in a religious group home for the mentally ill. His condition improved, but then he left the group home and stopped taking his medicine a few months after his mother returned home. A few months after that, Zino and his father also went to the United States. A month after his arrival there, Zino was hospitalized again for his mental illness and prescribed the medication Zyprexa.
Zino joined the United States Army after he got out of the hospital. He did not tell the Army of his psychiatric illness, his hospitalizations or the medication he was taking. He enlisted on November 30, 1998 and last spoke to his family on the telephone a few weeks later. He sounded upbeat at the time of the conversation and said he was going to visit relatives in Oakland.
But when his bus arrived in Oakland, Zino saw two other enlisted men off and told them he was going to San Francisco instead. Several weeks later, the Army notified Zino's family that he had never returned to Fort Sill for active duty as scheduled.
Zino's mother hired a private detective to look for her son in 2001. The detective believed Zino was possibly homeless. Prior to his disappearance, Zino had expressed admiration for homeless people and their resourcefulness. Witnesses reported seeing a man resembling Zino living on the streets and in homeless shelters in the Oakland and Berkeley, California areas, but the private detective was never able to locate him.
Oklahoma and California authorities are handling Zino's case. It remains unsolved.
<<Circumstances of Disappearance
On November 30th, 1998 Bo spoke with his family at home in New York City. A few weeks later, there was a phone conversation between Bo and his father on the day before he left for Oakland from Fort Sill.
After two weeks of basic training at Fort Sill, Bo had a two-week Christmas, New Year’s break.
Bo set off on a bus from Lawton, Oklahoma that traveled to El Paso, New Mexico, where they changed buses that carried them to Oakland.
While two other privates stepped off the bus in Oakland, they asked Bo to come visit with their families, but Bo informed them that he was traveling onto San Francisco to visit relatives.
A few weeks later Bo’s family was notified that Bo never returned to Fort Sill for active duty.
Before joining the army, Bo had recent hospital stays in Israel and Cornwall.
Bo had a great appreciation for the homeless, admiring their resourcefulness and ability to adapt to unusual conditions. He may have been seen at a Oakland shelter in 2001. He may have been staying at shelters Berkeley at the time.>>
