The disappearance of Kevin Collins
San Francisco, San Francisco County, California · February 10, 1984
The neighbor police questioned six days after Kevin vanished turned out, twenty-nine years later, to have lived under at least five names with a hidden record of crimes against boys in two countries — and the department only pieced it together after he was dead.
Overview
On the evening of Friday, February 10, 1984, ten-year-old Kevin Collins left basketball practice early at St. Agnes School in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury and went to the bus stop at Oak Street and Masonic Avenue to wait for the No. 43 bus home. His older brother, who usually went with him, was home sick. Witnesses saw Kevin at the stop talking to a tall blond man with a large black dog. He was never seen again. His face went onto posters, the cover of Newsweek and some of the first milk cartons ever printed with a missing child's photograph. Six days after he vanished, police questioned a man who lived a block from the bus stop, matched the description and owned a black dog — a man they knew as Wayne Jackson, with a 1981 conviction for a lewd act on a seven-year-old. They searched his flat with his consent, showed his photograph to the witnesses, and let him go when no one could pick him out. In late 2012 a cold-case review found that the same man had used at least five names, had fled Canada after a 1973 arrest for kidnapping and sexually assaulting boys, and had died in San Francisco in 2008 as Dan Leonard Therrien. In January 2013 cadaver dogs led police to break up the concrete floor of his old garage; the bones beneath it were an animal's. A week later the chief of police named him a person of interest. No one has been charged, and the case remains open.
Where it stands
The case is open and unsolved. San Francisco police have never charged anyone, and the man they named as a person of interest in 2013 died five years before they named him. The department's 2013 press releases describe the investigation as ongoing and say the search warrant remains under seal. The development that brought the case back was a cold-case review that began in late 2012. According to the SFPD, inspectors reading the file fresh obtained new information about Wayne Jackson, the neighbor questioned and released in 1984, and learned that he had used various names and had died in 2008 as Dan Leonard Therrien. Police said they then discovered a criminal history the original detectives never saw because the names did not match: a 1973 arrest in Canada for kidnapping and sexually assaulting thirteen-year-old boys, after which he fled to the United States, in addition to the 1981 Fisherman's Wharf conviction they had known about. On January 29, 2013, police and the FBI served a warrant at his former duplex on the 1100 block of Masonic Avenue. Two cadaver dogs independently alerted to the same spot under the garage floor; crews removed the concrete and found several small bones, which the medical examiner's preliminary assessment and later testing found to be from an animal. The lead inspector told ABC7 that regardless of the bone results he believed police were on the right track, and that detectives had interviewed the man's former roommate in Canada and were trying to trace a car the two had once owned. Why it is still open: the witnesses who saw Kevin with a man and a dog could not identify him in 1984, police say no witness has ever connected him to the case since, no remains have been found, and police say they do not even know his birth name or true age because they have never located a birth certificate. A separate 2012 lead, a death-row serial killer who allegedly spoke to a cellmate of a fourth victim, was checked by SFPD; he denied involvement. Kevin's family said in 2013 that the neighbor should have been a stronger suspect from the start, and that they were left with no real closure.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Dan Leonard Therrien (also known as Wayne Jackson)
San Francisco police named him a person of interest on February 6, 2013. Police said he lived a block from the bus stop, matched the description of the tall blond man with a large black dog seen talking to Kevin, owned a black dog, and was questioned and consented to a search of his flat six days after the disappearance, but witnesses could not identify him. Police said a 2012 cold-case review found he had used at least five names and had a record the original investigators never connected: a 1981 conviction for a lewd act on a seven-year-old boy at Fisherman's Wharf and a 1973 arrest in Canada for kidnapping and sexually assaulting thirteen-year-old boys, after which he fled to the United States. He died of natural causes in San Francisco in 2008. A 2013 search of his former garage recovered only animal bones, and police said no witness has connected him to the case.[1]
- A Northern California serial killer on death rowNot publicly named
ABC7's I-Team reported in October 2012 that a man sentenced to death for murdering three boys in the early 1980s had told a cellmate of a fourth victim around the time Kevin vanished, and that a psychiatric report placed him working in San Francisco two miles from the bus stop. SFPD interviewed him at San Quentin; he denied killing Kevin, and police said they were checking a report that he was in jail that night. He has never been charged in Kevin's case.[9]
Sources
- Update on the Kevin Collins Cold Case Investigation
“In late 2012, San Francisco Police Cold Case Inspectors began reviewing this case with the intent of providing a fresh look at the case with new sets of eyes. During this review, Inspectors obtained additional information about a person of interest, identified as Wayne Jackson of San Francisco. Jackson used various names throughout his life and died in 2008 under the name of Dan Leonard Therrien.”
- Kevin Collins Cold Case Investigation
“During today's investigation, cadaver dogs indicated the presence of possible remains under the concrete floor of the garage. The concrete was removed and several bones were located. The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office responded to the scene and assumed custody of the bones.”
- After 29 years, 'person of interest' named in kidnapping of Kevin Collins
“Investigators looking at the case recently realized Therrien had a lengthy criminal past in both California and Canada, including a felony for a lewd act on a child. They didn't know that at the time because he had used other names.”
- Family left unsatisfied with new evidence in 1984 disappearance of Kevin Collins
“Two witnesses told police independently that they saw Kevin talking to a man with a dog. The first man said Kevin was at the bus stop. The second witness, who saw Kevin later, said the boy was in front of Therrien's home. Therrien, who had a pet dog, was question and his flat was searched a week after Kevin's disappearance, but police did not look in the backyard or the basement.”
- Lead San Francisco investigator opens up about Kevin Collins disappearance
“"One dog hit a particular spot, the dog was taken out, a period of time went by and a second dog was sent in and he hit at the same public spot," Toomey said. The bones recovered from the house are believed to be from an animal but are being sent to a state lab for testing. Regardless of the outcome of the tests, investigators believe they are on the right track.”
- Ex-Owner Of SF Home Surprised About Search In Kevin Collins Case
“Police remained tight-lipped Wednesday about what prompted the investigation at the home, and said the search warrant remains sealed. Chief Greg Suhr said only that an inspector was looking at the cold case file when something "tickled his interest."”
- SFPD Releases Photos Of Suspect In Kevin Collins Case
“Therrien matches the description of a 6-foot man with a large black dog who was seen talking to Collins before the boy disappeared. Therrien also owned a black dog, and was questioned by police shortly after the disappearance and his home was searched, but witnesses could not identify him in a photo lineup.”
- Person of interest Dan Leonard Therrien in Kevin Collins case has checkered past
“Six days after Collins' disappearance, Suhr added, police interviewed Therrien and he agreed to let them search the duplex. According to public records, Therrien died in 2008 while living in the Sunset district. Police said they don't know his birth name or real age because they don't have his birth certificate.”
- I-Team uncovers major break in 28-year-old missing boy's case
“The days turned into weeks and months, but Kevin's family continued to push, manning a 24-hour hotline out of their home and pleading with the kidnapper directly on ABC7.”
- Kevin Collins' Family Guarded About Bone Find
“Over the past 29 years, the family has grown to accept Kevin will not be coming home. A memorial bench was placed at a cemetery on the 10-year anniversary of his disappearance in 1994.”
- Kevin Andrew McCarthy Collins
“He was witnessed talking at the bus stop to a blond man about six feet tall, in his twenties or thirties. The man was accompanied by a large black dog, possibly a Great Dane or similar breed. He has never been heard from again.”
- Disappearance of Kevin Andrew Collins
“On February 10, 1984, he left early from basketball practice in the school's gymnasium between 6:10 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.”