Elderly L.A. woman vanishes, is found alone in Maine four years later
Sarah Cheiker had lived in the small bungalow in the Fairfax district for decades, first with her mom and then by herself.
But one day in 2008 she vanished, and a bulldozer showed up to demolish her longtime home.
"I was shocked. We figured she was dead," said Jim Caccavo, who had been Cheiker's next-door neighbor for 35 years. When he couldn't find out what had become of the 89-year-old woman, he filed a missing person's report.
Four years later, two FBI agents rolled into the neighborhood and starting knocking on doors, asking questions and telling residents that Cheiker had been found alive — abandoned and alone in a weathered cabin near the coast of Maine.
more
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-woman-vanished-20141012-story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
Did she just run off by herself?
Nicholas and Barbara Davis - 41-year-old twins - and their godson Jonathan Stevens, 21, befriended Ms Cheiker after knocking on her door at random one day, prosecutors said.
According to neighbors, they looked after her by taking her to doctor's appointments and the store - and even let her move in after fire damaged her house.
After Ms Cheiker vanished in 2008, a living trust in her name sold the rebuilt house for $712,000, according to property records. Authorities said Ms Cheiker was taken from LA by the trio, who then dragged her on a financially ruinous jaunt across the nation, before leaving her in the shack.
The three were charged with endangering the welfare of a dependent person - but pleaded no contest in court so were never found guilty. They are now on probation.
Investigators believe the trio assumed Ms Cheiker would die in the cabin - and that they would never be caught.
