Was Rogest Cain found deceased?

[crystaldawn]

I was searching the net to see if I could find out any updates on Rogest Cain (the elderly man who went missing from California but was sited several times later acting confused). I came across his name on a cemetary website from California. Obviously it isn't a very common name but I checked his doe network profile. The day and month of birth matched but the year was 1 off. The cemetary website did say Rogest died in 1993 but wasn't buried until 1997 which would make sense since he was a missing person. A very interesting find and if anyone can research any further and find out for sure if this was the Rogest Cain profiled on UM and the circumstances surrounding his death, please share. Here are the links to the cemetary website and his doe network profile:

http://www.interment.net/data/us/ca/.../lanat_c01.htm
(just scroll down until you find Cain, Rogest)

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/724dmca.html

[Dislimb]

I'm not sure, but I think that is probably him.

[Awsi Dooger]

I'll take even money it's him, if anyone is dense enough to offer

[crystaldawn]

Well I contacted the Doe Network hoping that they could do some research and here is their reply:

Our California Area Director contacted the LAPD and Mr. Cain is indeed still missing. However his family did have him declared deceased in April of 1995.

If you need anything else, feel free to contact me any time.

(: ~Elizabeth
--

Is it possible that the family purchased a headstone for him even though his body was never found?

[Dislimb]

I suppose that is a possibility, a creepy one.

[mozartpc27]

I just watched this case on crystaldawn's first collection. If I ever saw it when it was on NBC, I had long forgotten. It's a terribly sad case, but I am most impressed with the detective work done by crystaldawn, and the Doe network for going to the trouble to contact the LAPD, and the LAPD responding! I hope some day his family locates his body, if they have not already, and may he ret in peace. Too sad.

[Chris Billings]

I read the info about Rogest Cain on the DoeNetwork and still do not recall his UM semgent.....is this another one of those cases which appeared on NBC but not on Lifetime??? I hate when they do that!!

Christopher

[mozartpc27]

Originally Posted by Chris Billings

I read the info about Rogest Cain on the DoeNetwork and still do not recall his UM semgent.....is this another one of those cases which appeared on NBC but not on Lifetime??? I hate when they do that!!

Christopher

Yup.

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by SoftentheSilence

I just watched this segment and I'm perplexed as to why he was declared dead. The update to this segment stated that Cain was known to be living somewhere else under a different name that was given to him by a truck driver that picked him up. Also, someone else had given police information about Cain that wouldn't have been known without actually knowing him (I believe they referred to a scar on his body somewhere).

I'm starting to wonder whether or not the claims made by these people turned out to be false statements, otherwise why end the search and declare him dead. The update to the segment also stated that he was working odd jobs at the time he was spotted, so again I'm baffled as to why the family declared him dead. Cain's family declared him dead in 1995, which was nine years after the disappearance. If this was a case where the missing was never seen again, I could see why they would take this course of action, but the fact that there were substantiated reports that Cain was alive and functioning just irks me for some reason.

...Maybe I'm just commenting with the facts that I have, and maybe the family knows things that we don't that would lead them to declare him dead, but I just don't know...

Going by DoeNetwork, Cain disappeared in February of '86 and was declared dead almost ten years later. The sightings of him were in 1989, I believe. So, it does seem rather strange that he would be declared dead so soon after the sightings. Perhaps the leads just dried up and the family wanted to disperse his estate quickly. He had obviously been missing for almost ten years at that point and it didn't seem likely he would return especially considering his age and alleged medical condition. This is all just speculation of course.

[kadrmas15]

Well I do not feel there is enough evidence to allege the family of having some type of alterior motive in having the court declare Rogest legally dead. While I am sure his family did want to get access to his pension (he had been an employee of the city of Los Angeles for 27, 28 years at the time he disappeared) and things like that, I believe it was because they felt like he actually was probably dead.

I believe without a body you have to wait 6 years before you can have someone declared legally dead. Since the 1989 sightings were the last he was known to probably be alive, 1995 was the earliest they could have him declared legally dead. They probably felt like in all probability he was dead since the leads and sightings had dried up since 1989. AJ Breaux's family had him declared legally dead in 1997, 6 years after he disappeared even though like Rogest, his body was never found.

My guess is that Rogest Cain probably did turn up elsewhere after he left Topeka and probably passed away in a nursing home or hospital under an alias or even as a John Doe and is probably buried somewhere in an unmarked grave. It is sad, but likely the truth.

[Charli-Ann]

Two reasons that Rogest Cain's family might have wanted to have him declared legally dead:

1. If the Cain's owned their own home jointly, and Mrs Cain needed to sell the house for any reason (poor health, moving closer to children, etc.), she would need to have him declared dead in order to sell the house.

2. Closure. I have no experience with this, thank God, but I've heard that some people do get a kind of feeling that "it's all over with" when a missing loved one is declared dead. Considering his age and health at the time he disappeared, I think that his family had probably come to accept the idea that the chances were very good that he had passed away.

I agree with kadrmas - I think that Mr. Cain probably passed away shortly after he left Topeka. He seemed like a very good man - may he rest in peace.

Charli-Ann

[MissFit29]

If only that security guard had stayed with Rogest (when they found him in the gated community) until his sister came to pick him up, who knows what might have been.