DATE OF LAST CONTACT: April 1978. Randy’s last contact was a postcard he sent on 18th April 1978
MISSING FROM: New Orleans, Louisiana
DATE OF BIRTH: 19th May 1955
AGE AT DISAPPEARANCE: 22
HEIGHT: 5’11 (family says he was tall and may have actually been over 6 feet)
WEIGHT: 160 lbs
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: White male. Brown collar length straight hair. His hair has some waves and may also have reddish blonde highlights. Blue/Grey or Hazel eyes (His missing report says hazel but his family insists they were blue) He has a scar on his upper lip. He has extra vertebrae in his spine. He has a muscular build.
INVESTIGATING AGENCY: Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
BASIC CASE FACTS
- Sometime in early 1978 Randy Doran left his California home after a disagreement with the intention of hitchhiking to Florida to see his grandmother.
- Randy called his aunt sometime in March or April, informing her that he was in New Orleans and implying that he was working on a boat. He mentioned he was suffering from dizzy spells.
- Randy sent a postcard to his aunt which was postmarked 18th April 1978 from New Orleans. He said he missed his family, sent his love, and said he was doing well. This was the last time anyone ever heard from him.
- Several years later another mysterious postcard arrived from a person in Louisiana who no one in the family knew but who may have been connected to Randy.
- Despite extensive searches no one has heard from or seen Randy since 1978.
I have to give much of the credit to author of the Underground Mysteries blog who worked with Randy’s family and provided much of the information about Randy and the family’s search for him, as well as interviews conducted with Randy’s sister by the Unfound Podcast. Research about the SS President and possible medical conditions is my own.
RANDY’S STORY
Randy Stewart Doran was born in California on the 19th May 1955 to parents Wilfred and Gloria. Soon after his birth the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, and in quick succession two more Doran children arrived: Valerie in 1956 and Patrice in 1957. Randy’s dad Wilfred – a first generation child of Sicilian immigrants – had been a Machinist’s Mate in the navy and served in the Korean War. He had married Gloria in 1953, as soon as he returned from the war, and enrolled in college where he studied law, but the Doran marriage soon broke down. By 1964 Randy’s parents had divorced and mom, Gloria, moved with Randy and his sisters to Las Vegas, where the rest of her family was living.
After moving to Las Vegas Randy never saw his father, nor anyone from his father’s family, ever again. Randy’s father went on to be a circuit court judge and assistant district attorney in Tennessee, where he remarried and had three more children – though none of them ever met Randy and after his death, Wilfred’s friends would be surprised to learn that he ever had another family; having never spoke of them at all. I can’t help but wonder if Wilfred was even aware that his firstborn child had gone missing.
In Las Vegas Randy attended Ed W. Clark High School but he dropped out before graduation. Despite not completing his schooling Randy was said to be highly intelligent, particularly in Math and Music. His sister Valerie recalls that as a child she could throw any math problem at him and he would immediately be able to work out the answer in his head. Randy was a talented poet and musician; he wrote his own songs, played the guitar and also authored many poems and short stories. Randy had a small, close-knit group of friends who remember him as friendly and social but also quiet, but his sister remembers a different side to her brother: “He was wild! He got into lots of fights! He smoked weed and was fairly troubled in his younger years”. These troubles would eventually end up with Randy being sent to a boy’s home.
Randy was close to his mom when he was younger but their relationship had grown increasingly strained due to Randy’s problems with Gloria’s partners; problems that often resulted in physical violence. One particular incident ended in sixteen year old Randy beating up his step dad and subsequently Randy was placed into a Boys Home in Texas. He wasn’t there long. A few weeks after arriving he called his mom and told her that the administrators were physically abusing him so she drove down and brought him right back home. Things, however, remained unsettled.
Randy went on to join the Marines and found that he excelled. The military gave Randy the focus and discipline that he’d been lacking and he went on to attain his high school diploma while serving. Randy could have gone on and made a successful career in the military, but unfortunately it was not to be.
A medical exam found that Randy had extra vertebrae in his back and we can make some conclusions here about Randy’s health. An extra vertebrae does not automatically disqualify someone from serving unless there are other connected problems such as pain or functional limitations. It looks like Randy may have begun to suffer back pain or mobility issues and visited the doctor. Due to this, he could no longer serve and received an honourable discharge.
Randy returned to Las Vegas and drifted around for a while, often living for short periods with army buddies or old school friends. He would often hitchhike across the country, particularly to Florida to visit his grandma – Randy’s sister says that he was without a doubt her favourite grandchild – and it wasn’t unusual in this period for his family not to know exactly where Randy was at any given time, but they never worried; after all, Randy was ex-marine with a history of fighting. He could likely take care of himself.
During this period Randy had grown increasingly close to his Aunt and Uncle, Steve and Sandy Hobberchalk, and it’s possible his uncle provided the fatherly role that had been missing in his life. In 1976 Steve and Sandy decided to move to California and Randy decided to go with them. They moved into a courtyard apartment in Panorama City, in the San Fernando Valley just north of Los Angeles and Randy got a job working at Mike’s Pizza in downtown. Randy’s sister says that he loved Hollywood.
PERSONALITY CHANGE
In 1977 Randy found a lump in his testicle and was terrified that it was cancer. Although it turned out to be benign, the experience seems to have caused a radical change in his personality – Randy became a committed Christian. However, his newfound faith went far beyond merely attending church; Randy became zealous. His friends noticed his sudden intense interest in religion and called it “An Obsession”. Randy had begun to preach to those he knew at every opportunity and both friends and family note that he had become a completely different person. Randy’s writings now began to focus on his religious thoughts and friends said “His whole life centered around religion”. Having faith is no bad thing, but it was such a dramatic shift in his behaviour that it caused some concern to those who knew him. His mom would later say that she believes he had a mental illness and that she thinks “he was showing clear signs of schizophrenia before he left”. Randy now carried a pocket bible with him at all times.
DISAPPEARANCE
Most of the missing people I write about have a definite date on which they disappeared and a set of circumstances – something that happened to them on a particular day; a trail to follow – but Randy doesn’t have any of that. Randy just slowly vanished, fading into the abyss, and nobody is really sure when or where it happened.
It all started with an argument Randy had with his uncle Steve in early 1978. Randy had grown close to a girl and moved her into the apartment he shared with his uncle’s family. But Steve and Sandy weren’t keen on her and, when it was later discovered that she had been stealing from them, they kicked her out. This led to a confrontation with Randy who announced to his uncle “I won’t come back ’til I make it”. This was the last time that Randy’s family ever saw him. We don’t know what he took with him, whether he quit his job, whether he left California immediately or even if the girl went with him. And nobody remembers who the girl was. Randy’s family were under the impression that he was hitchhiking to his grandma’s in Florida – something he did regularly – and indeed, he did make it to Florida and visit with her briefly before moving on again.
PHONE CALL
At some time in early 1978 – no one knows exactly when – Randy make a brief call to his aunt Sandy. He informed her he was in New Orleans and was working on a boat. He also said that he had been suffering from dizzy spells and then he ended the call quickly, saying that he had to go and get on the boat before it left. This was the last time anyone in Randy’s family actually spoke to him, but he did send a postcard.
THE POSTCARD
In April 1978 Sandy received a postcard from Randy which was postmarked 18th April 1978 and was sent from New Orleans. The picture on the front was of the riverboat the SS President. The postcard was the last confirmed communication that anyone had with Randy and it seemed to confirm what he had said in the phone call.
Dear Family,
I’m doing fine
working, eatin, sleepin good
It’s alright here, Made
a couple friends, still
miss you all especially
Kevin + Grandma
Scotty + James
Zoe (or possibly Joe)
+ Mom, Sandy, Steve, Grandma Rose Love Randy
The message seems to be a loving one and indicates no problems. Randy obviously didn’t bear a grudge over his argument several months earlier and indicates he was missing everyone. He seemed to be doing fine and mentions that he has a job and is eating and sleeping well. Due to the postcard being a picture of the riverboat SS President, his family has assumed that this was the ship he had mentioned working on and I am inclined to agree. Some have noted that he could have potentially picked it up any tourist shop and it may be meaningless, but I am inclined to believe that this postcard was probably being sold aboard the SS President itself and, added to the fact that Randy specifically referenced working on a ship in his call home, I think this was it. Otherwise, why choose this particular postcard? Randy’s sister Valerie, in the Unfound Podcast, mentioned that she felt the postcard sounded like a ‘Dear John letter’ – in other words: a goodbye. While I don’t get that impression at all, I have to take into account that she knows how her brother would talk/write and maybe has picked up on something I cannot see.
SS PRESIDENT
So what do we know about the SS President? Actually, rather a lot. At the time Randy would have been working on it the SS President was a steamship riverboat that offered daily thirty mile cruises along the Mississippi. It was a popular and well-loved tourist attraction – but it wasn’t just a tourist boat.
At night the SS President came alive as one of New Orleans’ most popular night spots. There was a large dance floor, live music and performers, and a house band. Proms, local functions, and celebrations were held there as well as classical music concerts and on Saturday nights a crowd of well-dressed young people would queue to get onboard for a night of partying out on the river that lasted from 9pm til midnight.
Over the years such famous names as Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, The Pointer Sisters, Iggy Pop, Cindy Lauper and even Elvis, among many others, have performed on the boat and I can’t help think this would have been the perfect job for Randy – a former marine with a love of music!
I haven’t been able to discover if those who worked on the ship also lived on-board, but it is quite possible. It’s not known what job Randy may have had either, but he could have been doing almost anything with his experience in the marines, working in a pizza place, and also with his gift of writing music and playing guitar. It feels like this would have been a great fit for Randy but alas, as with so much in Randy’s life, it was not to be.
During the course of my research into this case I discovered something which I have never seen mentioned before by family or other researchers and I think it may have some significance: Around the 11th May 1978 the SS President went into drydock for extensive repairs. The date of 1978 for this is mentioned in several online resources, which I link below, and I managed to get the actual date from the 11th May 1978 Louisiana based L’Observateur newspaper which has a tiny mention of a dance that had to be relocated due to this:
…although plans were changed because the S.S. President was put into drydock for repairs, So the Admiral was used for the dance.
So why is this significant? Well, because these repairs weren’t just a new lick of paint! The ship’s side wheels were removed and three diesel engines were installed. This was a huge refit and the ship would have been out of action for a ling time while the entire propulsion system was replaced and most importantly – Randy would have lost his job. There would’ve been no work and it is highly unlikely the owners would have continued to pay workers who couldn’t work – particularly transient workers like Randy.
What this means is that less than a month after he sent that postcard, he likely found himself jobless and possibly homeless too. Randy’s family have always focused on finding him in New Orleans, but I don’t think that is so certain anymore. Randy may have stayed in the city and looked for another job, but there is every chance he decided it was a good time to move on; perhaps back to Florida to see his grandma, or maybe heading back west.
SEARCHING FOR RANDY
Randy’s family weren’t initially worried when they hadn’t heard from him. Randy often hitchhiked across the country without staying in close contact so it was a long time before anyone wondered where he was – years in fact. When his family had his case reopened in 2021, his mom wasn’t even sure what year he had actually disappeared.
Although his family says they did report Randy missing early on, the case slipped through the cracks and there was no record of it. The first person to start looking for Randy was his beloved grandma, who travelled from Florida to New Orleans to search for him, or any clue of his whereabouts, but she found nothing. Randy’s sister called the company who owned the SS President in search of any clues, but the ship had been sold since Randy worked there and there were no surviving employee records or anyone with any information. Gloria later wrote an article about her missing son that was published in Women’s World magazine, hoping to generate some new leads from someone who may have met Randy on his travels. She was contacted by a girl who said she had met Randy on a bus, but the information led nowhere. Gloria also contacted the passport office but they had no records, and she called hospitals in Louisiana – again, nothing.
It was in the 1990s that his family really began to worry about Randy. They decided it had just been too long without hearing from him and his mom wanted to reconnect so they started a concerted effort to find him. Gloria went to New Orleans herself and spoke to New Orleans police and even a psychic, to no avail. She requested a record of Randy’s social security contributions and discovered that there had been zero activity since 1978. As time went on, his sister would search online for her brother and even write to people with the same name, but none were Randy. They even tried unsuccessfully to get him featured on Unsolved Mysteries. Throughout all the years and all the searching not one single person from New Orleans has ever come forward to say they had any knowledge of Randy. The record of his existence stops in 1978; no government records, no police records, no arrests, no taxes paid, no job, no marriage, no death…no nothing! And then Gloria stumbled across something nobody could explain…
A SECOND POSTCARD?
Randy’s Aunt Sandy had kept all of the belongings he’d left behind including his writings, music, and the postcard he had sent. Sandy passed away in 2000 and the little collection went to his mom. One day, as Gloria was looking through the little box of memories, she came across something very mysterious: Another postcard!
Except this postcard wasn’t from Randy. In fact, no one is really sure who it was from! The postmark indicated that it had been mailed in Vacherie, which is a town in Louisiana about an hour’s drive from New Orleans but still classed as within the city’s metropolitan area. Interestingly, Vacherie sits on the Mississippi and I have confirmed that it was on the route of the SS President’s river tour. The postcard was dated 11th January 1982, almost four years since Randy’s last contact, and nobody is really sure who sent it! There is even some confusion about the name of the sender. Some see ‘Caudill Lewis’ or ‘Candi Lewis’ but I am convinced that the name is ‘Candice Lewis’ and when I ran the signature through ChatGTP, without giving any hints as to possibilities, it also concluded the signature was Candice Lewis.
I am sorry I had lost
your address
Dear Sandy
I really have missed you
I hope you and your family
all are well. I want you
to know that I got engaged for
christmas. And I am very
happy. Well I am sorry I
have to be closing now
But take care of yourself Love Candice Lewis (?)
So what on earth has this got to do with Randy, I hear you ask. Well maybe nothing at all, but why then did Sandy keep it together with all of Randy’s belongings? She clearly thought this was in some way related to him. Did she know something about the sender that, for some reason, she never mentioned? Nobody knows who this person is. Randy’s family have scratched their heads but come up blank. Sandy’s children were certain she didn’t know anyone else in Louisiana except Randy. This postcard wasn’t from Randy, and it never actually references him. Whoever sent it knew Sandy and her family, apparently well enough to really miss them – odd considering the family didn’t even know who she was! She knew Sandy’s address (despite saying she lost it, she apparently found it again) and she clearly thought her engagement was news that Sandy would be interested to hear. But who is she and what made Aunt Sandy place this postcard with items related to Randy? It could be an old school friend, an old neighbour, a former co-worker…but what if it is someone else?
In my mind, there is only one person that this could be: the girl who used to live with Randy and Sandy, the thief who caused the argument that led Randy to leave in the first place! On the Unfound podcast, Randy’s sister has come to the same conclusion. If the sender of the second postcard was indeed this girl then it indicates that she had, in fact, travelled to Louisiana with Randy, and that she stayed there. Was she still in contact with him? Had they separated? What more might this person know? As I reread the message with the knowledge that it may have been from this girl – the message seemed to take on a more sinister, malicious tone? Is it simply a friend sharing good news, or a taunting message from someone with an axe to grind?
We may never know. It may be a completely innocent and unrelated coincidence. But I can’t help think that Sandy put it with the rest of Randy’s stuff for a reason.
WHAT BECAME OF RANDY?
Unfortunately, I don’t think Randy lived beyond 1978. There is no evidence of life after that date. There was nothing to suggest that Randy planned to stop communicating with his family – quite the opposite, in fact. In his own words, he missed them but was enjoying his life. But if he did die, then how and where?
It is my belief that Randy left New Orleans in May 1978. There are a couple reasons I think this.
First, after losing his job on the SS President I think it was logical for him to hit the road and make his way to Florida to visit his grandma or perhaps to head back to California.
Secondly, no one in New Orleans ever reported him as missing. Randy stated that he had made some friends, surely if he mysteriously disappeared while still in the city then either they, or his employer, would have reported it? Or at the very least gone through his belongings, found a number or an address, and informed his family? The fact that they didn’t leads me to believe that they never knew Randy was missing – because he had already left town and said his goodbyes.
It’s likely Randy hitchhiked or caught a bus to his destination and potentially anything could have happened along the way, though I think law enforcement suspect foul play. Randy is entered into the FBI’s ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) system. One of the primary purposes of this system is for law enforcement across the country to connect missing and murdered people along US Highways and Interstates in the hopes of identifying potential serial killers who use the roadways as arteries of death. Randy clearly fits the profile of a potentially murdered hitchhiker. But there is another possibility too.
Throughout this write-up I have mentioned Randy’s medical problems: extra vertebrae, testicular lump, dizzy spells and possible psychological issues, and it was the dizzy spells which got me to wondering if these apparently separate medical conditions could have been connected to another underlying condition. And it turns out, yes, they can.
Extra vertebrae can be a common misdiagnosis of tumours on the spinal column. This was especially true fifty years ago when the only real way to make a diagnosis was with an x-ray that might be misinterpreted. And Randy was diagnosed in a military medical facility which probably wasn’t as well-equipped as a regular hospital. Interestingly, these tumours, while benign, may spread. The benign lump Randy found in his testicle could have been symptomatic of other things happening to his body. Even though these tumours may not have been cancerous, if one developed in Randy’s brain and went untreated, then it is likely to have caused noticeable changes to his personality, behavioral changes that may appear to others as a psychological disorder, and dizzy spells. Randy reportedly exhibited all of these symptoms
I think there is a strong possibility that Randy had a brain tumour and I think it had already developed before he left California. The dizzy spells he was suffering would have been just one of a number of symptoms that likely worsened over time. If this is the case, and it went untreated, then there is a high likelihood that it would eventually cause Randy to fall into a coma. If this happened during Randy’s travels then he could have ended up in a hospital anywhere and, if he didn’t have his ID with him, nobody would have the slightest clue who he was. If Randy died as a John Doe in a Louisiana or Florida hospital then they would have had no chance to identify him – he hadn’t even been reported missing at this point and even when he was, authorities in California were unlikely to notify these states. If this is the case then Randy is likely buried in a Potters Field as an ‘Unknown’ – but finding him would require knowing where he was when he died.
Randy’s family have had their DNA entered into CODIS, but there haven’t been any hits so far. They have requested that many unidentified bodies across the nation be compared to Randy, but he only has two rule-outs on NaMUS. Randy’s family have a Facebook Page for him – Find Randy Stewart Doran – but there hasn’t been a post recently. Randy’s sister says that his mom doesn’t talk much about him anymore, that it is just too painful to not know what happened to him.
Apart from a girl who saw him on a bus, not a single person has ever come forward saying they remember Randy. Not one person from New Orleans – his friends, his co-workers, his employers – not a single person has ever said they knew him. Someone must remember the musically talented, poetic, guitar-playing marine veteran who carried a pocket bible wherever he went? Do you remember him working on a ship? Did you give him a ride one time? Did you work with him? Did he ever serve you a beer or a bring you a pizza? Do you remember a young hitchhiker with a penchant for music and a love of god? Do you remember an unidentified young man who may have died in a hospital?
If any of these things rings the slightest bell, please reach out! You might hold the key to picking up his trail and locating him!
SOURCES
ViCAP Alert for Randy
The Unfound Podcast – Episode 253 – Puzzle on a Postcard
Jerry’s Brokedown Palaces – A blog with detailed information about the SS President
National Park Service website mentioning the SS President as an historic monument
11th May 1978 L’Observateur – An article mentioning SS President going into drydock
MISSING PERSON FLIER
The flier created for Randy by the brilliant Locks of Reunification advocacy group. Please feel free to share this flier and visit the Locks of Reunification facebook page.
Never Seen Again 