Ronald COLE Missing Person Case

Ronald

COLE

70

33

65 inches

65 inches

119 lbs

119 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

In May of 1965, a 19-year-old man named Ronald Joseph Cole vanished from Fillmore, California. He had journeyed from San Diego to Fillmore seeking employment and was staying with his half-brother, David La Fever, at a family residence on Foothill Drive. For years, his absence was a silent void until October 25, 1983, when he was officially reported as a missing person to the Fillmore Police Department. From the outset, his family held grave concerns, believing he had met with foul play and their suspicions centered on his half-brother, David La Fever, as being responsible for his disappearance. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office took over the investigation in August 1984 due to the suspicious nature of the case, but despite their efforts, no physical evidence of a crime could be found, and Ronald's whereabouts remained a painful mystery. A little over a year after Ronald was last seen, on October 27, 1966, a postman discovered a human skull near a creek in a rural area southeast of Geneseo, Illinois, almost two thousand miles away from where Ronald was last seen. A subsequent search of the area uncovered more skeletal remains. The Federal Bureau of Investigation examined the skull and found a bullet hole at its base, immediately classifying the case as a homicide. For decades, the identity of the victim remained unknown, a "Geneseo John Doe," leaving another family without answers. Investigators estimated the man had been deceased for one to five years before his remains were found. The case grew cold, one of countless unsolved mysteries filed away, with no name to attach to the tragic discovery. Decades later, a breakthrough came through the tireless work of cold case investigators and advancements in forensic science. In 2024, the Henry County Sheriff's Office revisited the case of the "Geneseo John Doe" and enlisted the help of the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit organization that uses investigative genetic genealogy to identify unknown remains. By creating a DNA profile and uploading it to a public genealogy database, the organization found several familial matches, leading them to the family of the long-missing young man from California. On January 10, 2026, it was officially confirmed that the remains discovered in Illinois back in 1966 were those of Ronald Joseph Cole. The prime suspect in his disappearance and death, David La Fever, was also a suspect in the murder of his brother-in-law and was connected to other violent crimes. Though La Fever allegedly confessed to family members that he had killed Ronald, there was never enough evidence to charge him before he passed away in 2007. The identification of Ronald Cole brought a name to a long-unsolved homicide and closed a missing person case that had spanned nearly six decades, finally providing his family with a tragic sense of closure, though the full story of his final days remains unknown.

Oct 28, 1988

Warren

Ontario

Sudbury OPP OPP ONCMPUR ; 1-705-330-4144;

Ontario

[email protected]

1-877-934-6363

1-877-934-6363

Law Enforcement

RM08063730

Sudbury OPP OPP ONCMPUR ; 1-705-330-4144;

Brown

Brown

Brown

Build: Medium; Complexion: Moles

No