Still no clues on missing man who disappeared in Hillcrest on Oct.23
The search for the missing man who walked out of UCSD in Hillcrest two months ago continues with no clues to his whereabouts.
On October 23, 2016, Lance Perkins, 43, was staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Old Town San Diego when he called his mother Donna and complained about having blackouts. She advised him to go to the hospital. That was the last time she heard from him.
According to hospital records, Lance was taken to UCSD, but it is unclear if Perkins left the building on his own or was released by the hospital. One account states that Perkins became impatient because of the wait time and left the hospital at 10 pm. However one staff member says he was officially discharged.
Security cameras caught Perkins walking north on Front Street and westbound on Dickerson (or Dove).
He never returned to his hotel.
His mother later found out that Perkins made two phone calls to friends at approximately at 4 am, but he did not leave a message.
Phone records indicate that he also made several 911 calls before it’s believed the battery died on his phone.
“Two of them [calls] were between fourteen and seventeen minutes long,” his mother told 10 News. “You could burn up or die before someone comes on the 911 system in San Diego.”
Perkins, originally from Orange County, had been visiting San Diego for Casa De Las Calaveras, an Old Town event which coincides with their annual Day of the Dead celebration in late October and early November.
He has a medical ailment which requires routine medication.
Phone records show that his last confirmed outgoing call was at approximately 6 am on Monday, October 24.
His friend of 15 years, Karen Hight created a Facebook page in hopes that people with any information about Perkins will come forward.
She writes that the San Diego Police Department told her they checked the canyons near the hospital where he went missing. Although she says the investigator denied her request to utilize cadaver dogs.
“He did tell me that no unidentified bodies have turned up so that is good news,” Hight writes. “He thinks he is in a hospital somewhere and they will not release his name due to privacy laws. We can only hope he is in a hospital somewhere.”
Perkins parents, Jerry and Donna, live in Hawaii and have set up a GoFundMe page to pay for a private investigator.
“There is a retainer fee for the investigator as well as other expenses for a private investigator to take on this case that unfortunately we do not have,” they write on the site. “This is the most heart breaking situation we have ever been in and we need to find our son. It’s been a long time and we need to make sure he is safe.
Perkins, now an art director for Lance’s Roundtable, was at one time the editor of Rage Monthly, an LGBT publication for San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
Here is a description of Perkins from the SDPD:
Please BOL for missing person, possibly at risk, Lance Perkins. White Male 6F1, 180#, brn/grn, DOB 06/04/73, last seen wearing glasses, black jacket, tan pants, black tennis shoes.
Last seen in the area of UCSD Hospital in Hillcrest on 10/23/16 at 10:21pm, possible walked into a canyon in the area.
If sighted, please notify San Diego Police at 619-531-2000, reference case #16043895.
