Jackson Alexander Miller was 19 when he vanished in Northern California, leaving his car parked near the Golden Gate Bridge.
Jason Alexander Miller was 19 when he left his family's Bay Area house for a 12-step meeting and never came home. That was nearly 11 years ago.
Sightings of the handsome, blue-eyed man have popped up over the years, giving his family hope but providing no leads as to where he is, or what happened to him.
The latest glimmer of promise flashed this week, when the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office in Northern California announced a woman reported encountering a homeless man in a Target parking lot who asked for a cigarette and a ride to Sacramento, the state capital.
He said his name was Jackson and that he was a missing person, authorities said. He spoke briefly with the woman, who said she couldn't give him a ride.
The man was captured on surveillance video leaving the store wearing black pajama pants with a shamrock pattern and a green pullover.
If still alive, Miller would be 30 years old.
His mysterious disappearance has generated headlines since May 15, 2010, the day he vanished. Surveillance footage showed him walking away from his 4-year-old Honda in a parking structure near the Golden Gate Bridge, one the world's most favored places for suicide by jumping from a bridge.
But cameras on the deep orange expanse that connects San Francisco to Marin County showed no one leaping into the Pacific Ocean that day. No bodies were found in the bay or washed ashore in the following days, authorities said.
His parents told investigators their son was profoundly depressed and anxious, and had suffered side effects from a recent change in his medication.
Days after he went missing, sightings were reported of him walking the popular tourist attraction of Fisherman's Wharf. In 2014, a South Lake Tahoe resident phoned authorities to say Miller had been spotted in the area. Those tips led nowhere.
Miller left his cellphone, iPod and wallet inside his Honda on the day he walked into oblivion.
Anyone with information concerning Miller is asked to contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department at (408) 808-4720, or the Nor-Cal Alliance for the Missing anonymous tip line at (530) 378-4491.
