Solved

The Disappearance Of Matthew Chase

It was just after midnight on June 8th, 1988, when 22-year-old Matthew Chase vanished into the darkness of Los Angeles. The evening had started innocently enough—dinner with his roommate and childhood friend, Teresa Dahl, followed by a quick trip to a nearby ATM. He'd returned home only to remember he had a paycheck to deposit and left again, borrowing Teresa's 1983 Volkswagen GTI to make the short trip. He never came back.

The next morning, an uneasy silence filled their shared apartment. When Matthew wasn't home by the time Teresa awoke, concern quickly turned to panic. Calls to friends and family revealed that no one had seen or heard from Matthew. With a growing sense of dread, Teresa and her other roommate reported his disappearance to the police. Their hope that this was just a misunderstanding began to crumble.

The investigation started with a call to the bank to confirm if Matthew had made his deposit. The bank confirmed that there had indeed been an attempt to access his account, but the transaction had failed to go through. This small clue only deepened the mystery—where had Matthew gone, and why hadn't he returned?

Days turned into weeks, and the investigation grew more intense. Then, a breakthrough: Matthew had visited several ATMs that night, one of which was equipped with a hidden camera. The camera captured an eerie image of Matthew standing at the ATM, his face illuminated by the screen's soft glow. But what made the photo truly chilling was the figure standing behind him. A man, unknown and unidentifiable, loomed just over Matthew's shoulder. Investigators now had a new theory—had this stranger taken Matthew's life?

Three weeks after Matthew disappeared, Teresa's Volkswagen GTI was found abandoned near the area where he had been last seen. Police dusted the car for fingerprints, but they found nothing. The discovery of a blue bandana in the backseat, something neither Matthew nor Teresa owned, was the only clue left behind. It led to more questions than answers.

As the summer dragged on, hope of finding Matthew alive began to dwindle. And then, on September 17th, 1988, the worst fears were confirmed. Matthew's body was discovered in a ravine in Pasadena, not far from where he had vanished. It took the Los Angeles coroner's office six long months to positively identify the body, finally confirming on March 29th, 1989, that Matthew had died from a gunshot wound.

The case shook the city, appearing on the December 21st, 1988 episode of Unsolved Mysteries. Matthew Chase's disappearance had become a haunting, unanswered question in the minds of many.

For thirty years, the case remained unsolved. But in 2018, investigators finally revealed the truth behind the mystery. The man in the ATM photo had been identified as David "Bear" Meza, a suspected gang member. Meza had murdered Matthew in cold blood, ending his life that fateful night in June 1988. But in a strange twist of fate, Meza himself was killed in a drive-by shooting just two days later, on June 10th, 1988, taking any hope for immediate justice to the grave with him.

Though the mystery of Matthew Chase's disappearance had finally been solved, it brought little comfort to those who had known and loved him. His life had been taken too soon, stolen by the violence that lurked beneath the surface of a city that never sleeps. The revelation, after so many years, was a bitter reminder that justice often comes too late.