CA CA - Ronald David Kruska, 18, Los Angeles, 10 Oct 1978

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The Doe Network:
Case File 749DMCA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/749dmca.html

Ronald David Kruska
Missing since October 10, 1978 from Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.
Classification: Endangered Missing



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: April 23, 1960
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 18 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'7; 165 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Blond hair; blue eyes.
•Marks, Scars, Tattoos: Dragon tattoo on upper right arm with Japanese lettering below the dragon. Viking warrior tattoo on left arm.
•Clothing: Blue Levis, tan tennis shoes, khaki backpack.
•Dentals: Not available
•Other: DNA available



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Circumstances of Disappearance
Kruska was last seen hitchhiking from his Canyon Country home, down Interstate 5.
Kruska was running with the wrong crowd, drinking and using marijuana, but he wanted to join the federal Job Corps, and he looked forward to being in his sister's wedding.
Kruska's family didn't report him missing until February 1979, four months after a friend dropped him off near the I-5 to hitchhike.
The former Saugus High School football player hasn't been heard from since.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Detective Richard Kennerly
LASD Homicide/Cold Case Unit
323-526-5541

Agency Case Number: 79-0083606

NCIC Case Number: M-306506010
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
The Valley News

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kruska_ronald.html

Did not located as listed in NamUs.

Could not located archived articles at this time.

Ronald has been missing almost 32 years. Come home soon.
 

Attachments

The circumstances in Ronald's disappearance seem to be a bit contradictory; according to Doenetwork he was in general feeling ok and looking forward to a family wedding etc. but according to Charley Project he left home very upset after finding out his father wasn't the same as his siblings'.

If we go by the latter account, I think it's possible he just didn't want to come back home anytime soon. And if he then met an untimely end, it may well have been at least some months after the original date he left home.

There are two entries on my "possible victims of Randy Kraft" list I thought to bring up:

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase1864.html is the more compelling one - the height is almost spot-on, and I think Ronald in the b/w photo looks like he might actually have reddish-blonde hair, not just blonde. But I'm afraid this is an obvious rule-out by DNA (if I've understood correctly, the database should make the match automatically?), since it says that both the UID's and Ronald's DNA are available. (NamUs link: https://identifyus.org/cases/4410)

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase795.html is another possibility. The hair is listed as brown with blonde shafts, but if it means light brown, this is a real possibility, I think. And, for what it's worth, in NamUs the hair is described as brown, dyed blonde. (NamUs link: https://identifyus.org/cases/4394)
 
I've been browsing NamUs to see if I could find any matching tattoos on missing and unidentified persons.

Does anyone else think the tattoo description for NamUs UP # 935 found 1979 https://identifyus.org/en/cases/935

"Right upper arm. Fire breathing devil with pitch fork in right hand. There are Japanese or Chinese characters beneath the figure."

sounds similar to that for Ronald Kruska?

"Dragon tattoo on upper right arm with Japanese lettering below the dragon." Ronald Kruska last seen 1978 https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/17575/5/

Could a dragon be described as a "fire breathing devil"?

Hair colour is brown vs blond/strawberry though, and one of Ronald's tattoos is not mentioned in the case of UP # 935. So, does this rule out the possibility of this being a match?
 
Refreshing the two threads...
MadMcGoo said:
Just came across this UID and Ronald’s case... very heartbreaking.

I checked classmates hoping yearbooks had been added for Saugus HS and there are a few. 1976 and 1978/9 are on there now. Ron is listed in the ‘76 book and I think I found him in a couple of places. One of the sports sections mentions the jerseys being black and white but they look an awful lot like the one found with the UID.

Who knows if these will ever be solved, if they are in fact related :(

Just wanted to refresh the thread and point out that there are now a few yearbooks available on classmates.com

The Los Angeles Daily News article from 2007 also shows to have been updated on August 29, 2017...

DNA Test Could Solve Missing Teen Mystery
Click to expand...
 
I take it nothing came of this?

DNA test could solve missing-teen mystery
PUBLISHED: February 16, 2007 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 2:52 a.m.

CANYON COUNTRY – Rocked by the discovery of a family secret, teenager Ronald David Kruska left home nearly three decades ago to hitchhike down Interstate 5.

The former Saugus High School football player has been missing since that day, Oct. 10, 1978.

Now, a sheriff’s detective wants to use technology developed since the teen went missing to see whether his DNA matches any traces left on a jersey found years ago in Sierra Madre alongside human remains.

The only problem is the jersey itself is now missing from evidence storage. And Kruska’s three siblings, who recently gave mouth swabs for DNA testing should the jersey turn up, await word about their brother.

“I think the best outcome for us would be that he’s alive somewhere, and we can just get together and talk about what’s happened over the years,” said brother Richard Kruska, 51. “But the next best would be to at least know what happened to him.”

A lot has changed since Kruska went missing from his Canyon Country home in 1978. It was the year that “Superman” came out in theaters, AC/DC released the album “Powerage,” and John Paul II became pope.

Kruska was a troubled 19-year-old when he went missing, said Richard Kruska, who is principal of a Catholic high school. The teenage Kruska was running with the wrong crowd, drinking and using marijuana, but he wanted to join the federal Job Corps, and he looked forward to being in his sister’s wedding, Richard Kruska said.

He also had learned he had a father different from his siblings, and, upset, he left home hitchhiking, Richard Kruska said.

“The fact that he didn’t report back, we kind of thought he was angry about the whole thing,” Richard Kruska said.

Because they thought he was out on his own, Kruska’s family didn’t report him missing until February1979, four months after a friend dropped him off near the I-5 to hitchhike, said Detective Richard Kennerly of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Cold Case Unit.

Kruska’s siblings get together a few times a year, and when they do, they often talk about their missing brother. The siblings were all at the Marina del Rey home of Richard Kruska the week before Super Bowl Sunday when Kennerly called, and he asked about the missing brother the siblings had been talking about that same day.

It had been 15 years since Richard Kruska had heard anything about the investigation into his brother’s disappearance. But Kennerly, who came out of retirement to work cold cases, had found a possible connection – one involving a blue jersey found in 1981 in a Sierra Madre wash.

Kruska had a blue football jersey in high school, when he was No.84 for the Saugus Centurions. The blue jersey found in 1981, along with partial skeletal remains from a victim about the same height as Kruska, bore the number44.

An old coach from the school has told Kennerly he doubts the No.44 jersey found in Sierra Madre was from the school. But Richard Kruska said his brother would often wear athletic gear, so there is a possibility No.44 could have belonged to the teen.

“It would be a lot easier if we had the … bones,” Kennerly said. “Nowadays, it’s a lot easier to work these things because they take DNA from every body, and they have DNA in the bones.”

But the bones and the jersey were discovered years before DNA-matching technology was used to solve crimes, and the bones were disposed of, he said. The case file indicates the jersey went to the Coroner’s Office, but it cannot be located. Still, Kennerly is confident.

“I think we’re going to find that jersey,” Kennerly said.

The Coroner’s Office keeps evidence in a storage area in the basement of its Los Angeles facility, and Kennerly said he has asked the office to look for the jersey. In some cases, the office sends material to the Sheriff’s Department for storage, and Kennerly said that could have happened with the jersey.

For its part, the Sheriff’s Department has a big Costco-size warehouse for evidence storage, with walk-in freezers and forklifts to pick material off metal racks.

“Sometimes things get misplaced, sometimes they get pushed aside,” said sheriff’s Lt. Dan Cruz, who handles evidence storage.

“But that doesn’t happen very often. We’re pretty good at retrieving the evidence that we put in the warehouse.”

Now that DNA testing is more common, the law requires the department to hold on to all biological evidence.

Richard Kruska remembers his little brother as a tough kid, not afraid to wrestle and play football with his older siblings.

“A lot of things were going on in his world at the time that I don’t think we knew what was happening to him,” Richard Kruska said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department, at (562) 465-7816.
Click to expand...

DNA test could solve missing-teen mystery – Daily News
 
Ronald's NamUs profile was modified on 6/8/22
He currently has 57 rule outs/exclusions

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov

UP79269
05/22/1979
Los Angeles
CA

UP4410
03/28/1979
Los Angeles
CA

UP14360
08/14/2015
Bland
VA

UP12163
06/30/1995
Accomack
VA

UP6245
02/23/1982
Hanover
VA

07/28/2007
Fairfax
VA

UP6746
01/29/1982
Newport News
VA

UP6149
01/22/1996
Halifax
VA

UP14518
04/03/2010
Shenandoah
VA

UP2230
08/19/1991
Richmond
VA

UP6474
05/12/1990
Prince William
VA

UP8578
05/19/1981
Richmond
VA

UP14901
11/14/1980
Cuyahoga
OH

UP2667
08/18/2008
Dinwiddie
VA

UP787
02/09/2002
Richmond
VA

UP6762
10/08/1995
Richmond
VA

UP6512
04/25/1985
Greensville
VA

UP6640
08/30/1984
New Kent
VA

UP6530
05/18/1990
Chesterfield
VA

UP9399
01/09/1983
Caroline
VA

UP13739
03/28/2015
Virginia Beach
VA

UP6303
01/26/1997
Warren
VA

UP8418
02/24/1992
Henrico
VA

UP7980
05/08/1981
Cuyahoga
OH

UP6643
04/11/1987
Caroline
VA

UP9398
08/28/1979
Charles City
VA

UP11248
08/20/2012
Fairfax
VA

UP6278
07/05/2007
Botetourt
VA

UP2560
03/05/2003
Norfolk
VA

UP6304
08/01/1993
Clarke
VA

UP9340
11/19/1983
Chesapeake
VA

UP6719
03/02/1986
Alleghany
VA

UP6719
03/02/1986
Alleghany
VA

UP6513
01/01/1990
Brunswick
VA

UP6638
04/06/2006
Fairfax
VA

UP6301
11/10/1988
Caroline
VA

UP7083
12/12/2006
Marin
CA

UP9509
02/23/1983
Virginia Beach
VA

UP5532
04/07/1992
Newport News
VA

UP9342
07/20/1982
Chesapeake
VA

UP2626
02/01/1991
Virginia Beach
VA

UP6305
07/30/2002
Prince William
VA

UP6637
10/07/2006
Fairfax
VA

UP9596
06/07/2002
San Mateo
CA

UP9682
12/25/2000
San Mateo
CA

UP9598
08/03/1980
San Mateo
CA

UP5239
01/01/2008
Lynchburg
VA

UP2229
09/28/1990
Stafford
VA

UP6171
12/26/2005
Pittsylvania
VA

UP6725
06/08/2000
Virginia Beach
VA

UP6702
07/01/1979
Augusta
VA

UP2672
04/05/2008
Prince Edward
VA

UP10528
11/26/1983
San Mateo
CA

UP6507
11/10/1988
Caroline
VA

UP6315
11/21/2009
Mecklenburg
VA

UP6095
06/26/1995
Greensville
VA

UP7605
07/21/2010
Mecklenburg
VA
 
Ronald's NamUs profile was modified today , 9/22/22
2 additional rule outs were added

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov
A total of 59 rule outs/exclusions

UP4362
12/08/1980
Los Angeles
CA

UP4410
03/28/1979
Los Angeles
CA
 
Thoughts on Ronald being UP15764?
Yes, Pennsylvania is pretty far and there's no mention of tattoos (body was decomposing), but other stats could match.
 

On the day of Kruska's disappearance, he found out he had a different father than his siblings, and became extremely upset and left home. His family initially assumed he had left of his own accord and would return, but they became concerned after months passed without his making contact with them. Kruska's loved ones reported him missing in February 1979, four months after he was last seen.
 
Oddly, I don't get a paywall, but here you go:

UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 2:52 a.m.

CANYON COUNTRY – Rocked by the discovery of a family secret, teenager Ronald David Kruska left home nearly three decades ago to hitchhike down Interstate 5.

The former Saugus High School football player has been missing since that day, Oct. 10, 1978.

Now, a sheriff’s detective wants to use technology developed since the teen went missing to see whether his DNA matches any traces left on a jersey found years ago in Sierra Madre alongside human remains.

The only problem is the jersey itself is now missing from evidence storage. And Kruska’s three siblings, who recently gave mouth swabs for DNA testing should the jersey turn up, await word about their brother.

“I think the best outcome for us would be that he’s alive somewhere, and we can just get together and talk about what’s happened over the years,” said brother Richard Kruska, 51. “But the next best would be to at least know what happened to him.”
A lot has changed since Kruska went missing from his Canyon Country home in 1978. It was the year that “Superman” came out in theaters, AC/DC released the album “Powerage,” and John Paul II became pope.

Kruska was a troubled 19-year-old when he went missing, said Richard Kruska, who is principal of a Catholic high school. The teenage Kruska was running with the wrong crowd, drinking and using marijuana, but he wanted to join the federal Job Corps, and he looked forward to being in his sister’s wedding, Richard Kruska said.

He also had learned he had a father different from his siblings, and, upset, he left home hitchhiking, Richard Kruska said.
“The fact that he didn’t report back, we kind of thought he was angry about the whole thing,” Richard Kruska said.

Because they thought he was out on his own, Kruska’s family didn’t report him missing until February1979, four months after a friend dropped him off near the I-5 to hitchhike, said Detective Richard Kennerly of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Cold Case Unit.

Kruska’s siblings get together a few times a year, and when they do, they often talk about their missing brother. The siblings were all at the Marina del Rey home of Richard Kruska the week before Super Bowl Sunday when Kennerly called, and he asked about the missing brother the siblings had been talking about that same day.

It had been 15 years since Richard Kruska had heard anything about the investigation into his brother’s disappearance. But Kennerly, who came out of retirement to work cold cases, had found a possible connection – one involving a blue jersey found in 1981 in a Sierra Madre wash.

Kruska had a blue football jersey in high school, when he was No.84 for the Saugus Centurions. The blue jersey found in 1981, along with partial skeletal remains from a victim about the same height as Kruska, bore the number44.

An old coach from the school has told Kennerly he doubts the No.44 jersey found in Sierra Madre was from the school. But Richard Kruska said his brother would often wear athletic gear, so there is a possibility No.44 could have belonged to the teen.
“It would be a lot easier if we had the … bones,” Kennerly said. “Nowadays, it’s a lot easier to work these things because they take DNA from every body, and they have DNA in the bones.”
But the bones and the jersey were discovered years before DNA-matching technology was used to solve crimes, and the bones were disposed of, he said. The case file indicates the jersey went to the Coroner’s Office, but it cannot be located. Still, Kennerly is confident.

“I think we’re going to find that jersey,” Kennerly said.
The Coroner’s Office keeps evidence in a storage area in the basement of its Los Angeles facility, and Kennerly said he has asked the office to look for the jersey. In some cases, the office sends material to the Sheriff’s Department for storage, and Kennerly said that could have happened with the jersey.
For its part, the Sheriff’s Department has a big Costco-size warehouse for evidence storage, with walk-in freezers and forklifts to pick material off metal racks.

“Sometimes things get misplaced, sometimes they get pushed aside,” said sheriff’s Lt. Dan Cruz, who handles evidence storage.

“But that doesn’t happen very often. We’re pretty good at retrieving the evidence that we put in the warehouse.”
Now that DNA testing is more common, the law requires the department to hold on to all biological evidence.

Richard Kruska remembers his little brother as a tough kid, not afraid to wrestle and play football with his older siblings.
“A lot of things were going on in his world at the time that I don’t think we knew what was happening to him,” Richard Kruska said
 
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