Updated today. I think some of the dates may have been entered incorrectly. It shows him to be missing since 1998.
Details of Disappearance
Jarvis traveled from his native Missouri to Vancouver, Washington sometime in the summer of 1988. He planned to only stay there for a visit and then return to Missouri, where he had purchased property he intended to build a house on. He never returned there, however.
His brother who also lived in Missouri reported him missing in March 1989, after they learned his property had been repossessed and put up for auction due to his failure to make payments.
Jarvis had gone to Vancouver to see his brother, Chris Harvey Sayler. A photo of Chris is posted with this case summary. Chris told police that Jarvis had moved to an apartment in Vancouver, but they'd had an a disagreement and hadn't seen each other since. Another of their brothers said it was uncharacteristic of Jarvis to be out of touch with his loved ones.
In 2013, a person identifying himself as Jarvis went to a Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) bureau to get a state identification card, and posed for a photo. The photo was flagged by the DOL's automated facial recognition system, because the person who claimed to be Jarvis appeared to be the same person who already had a Washington driver's license under the name Chris Sayler.
In 2015, Chris returned to a DOL office to explain the discrepancy. He said Jarvis was his twin brother and that was why the facial recognition system had triggered the photos. When it was pointed out that Jarvis and Chris are four years apart in age, Chris replied, "It is a rare situation, but it does occur." Chris and Jarvis are not twins; in fact, they're not even biologically related. Chris was adopted.
The issue was referred to the DOL's License Integrity Unit for investigation, then sent to the Social Security Administration (SSA). In 2019, Chris was charged with aggravated identity theft and access device fraud. The SSA had discovered he'd collected between $338,000 and $500,000 in Social Security disability benefits and retirement benefits meant for Jarvis.
In 2021, Chris pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to two years in prison. He stated he had gotten his brother's identification "under a misunderstanding of circumstances" and only began using it after he incurred financial difficulties.
Investigators believe Chris had been cashing Jarvis's benefit checks since at least 1998; that year, Chris's photo appeared on Jarvis's identification card for the first time. However, Jarvis's checks have been collected and cashed since 1988, the year of his disappearance. He had been receiving the checks since 1977.
He was known to be living in an apartment in the 8000 block of northeast 18th Avenue in Hazel Dell area of Vancouver in 1988; police know this because he called them to report prostitution activity in his apartment complex.
His whereabouts since 1988 have been unknown, and authorities are not sure if he is still alive. Chris was the last person known to have seen him, but hasn't been named as a suspect in his disappearance.
