Kevin Art Verville Jr. was an infant boy who was abducted by a woman in Oceanside, California, on July 1, 1980. His age progression depicts him at 45 years old.
Background[]
On June 14, 1980, Kevin was born and came home from the hospital to his parents' home in the Sterling Homes apartment complex in Oceanside, California, which was an off-base housing for military families stationed at Camp Pendleton. He was his parents' first child.
Case[]
On June 30, 1980, when Kevin was about two weeks old, a woman knocked on his parents' front door at their Sterling Homes apartment. She introduced herself to Kevin's parents as "Sheila" and spoke to Kevin's mother in Tagalog, which was Kevin's mother's native language. Sheila said she was a social worker from an organization called "Project Help", which offered financial assistance, diapers, and baby formula to low-income military families. She showed them a laminated Project Help identification card. Sheila promised to return later and take Kevin and his mother to the Project Help office to enrol them in the program.
On July 1, 1980, Sheila returned to Kevin's home and picked up Kevin and his mother in a gray or silver four-door sedan, possibly a 1975 Cougar. Sheila said that she needed to stop and pick up another mother who was enrolling her child in the program. They drove to a remote, rural area in northern San Diego County near the town of Fallbrook. Sheila then pulled over at a point slightly east of Highway 76 and Interstate 15 and asked Kevin's mother to knock on the door of a nearby house to retrieve the other mother, who required assistance from the program. When Kevin's mother got out of the car, Sheila drove off with Kevin. Extensive searches were conducted; however, neither Kevin nor Sheila had been found.
Abductor[]
Project Help was a real organization; however, no one who worked there had any knowledge of Sheila or anyone who resembled her. Authorities later discovered Sheila had been at Sterling Homes in the days leading up to Kevin's abduction. She had spoken to at least 30 different families there, searching for a child who was part Filipino and under six months of age, eventually finding Kevin as fitting her criteria.
Sheila is described as a white woman, possibly of Filipino or Spanish heritage. She was approximately 20 to 28 years old, standing 5'1 to 5'3 tall and weighing 105 to 135 pounds. She had frizzy or curly, red or blonde, shoulder-length hair, freckles on her arms and face, and a tattoo on her left hand between her thumb and index finger of a circle with an X inside it. She appeared to be in the second trimester of pregnancy and spoke with a slight Spanish accent. She was wearing a blue maternity top with a red or orange design, navy blue pants, and sunglasses with white or pearl coloured oval frames. It's possible that Sheila's hair was a wig, and the glasses and apparent pregnancy may have been part of her disguise.
Sheila has never been identified, and it has not been confirmed if Sheila was her real name. The FBI created a profile of her, which suggested she lived alone and may have recently lost an infant son to stillbirth, crib death, or removal from home by Child Protective Services. According to the profile, she would have been depressed and possibly suicidal, and kidnapped Kevin to replace her infant son. Authorities believe Kevin may still be alive and may have been raised by his abductor, not knowing his identity.
Characteristics[]
- Black hair.
- Brown eyes.
- Recovering from jaundice at the time of disappearance.
- Filipino descent.
Clothing and items[]
- Yellow T-shirt.
- Plastic diaper.
- Pink and blue receiving blanket.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- Kevin Verville Jr. at NCMEC
- Kevin Verville Jr. at NamUs
- Kevin Verville Jr. at the Doe Network
- Kevin Verville Jr. at the Charley Project