The Disappearance of Steven William Downes, February 1976

Photo of Steven Downes published in the Feb. 6, 1976 edition of the San Francisco Examiner.

Steven William Downes was last seen on the afternoon of Sunday, February 1, 1976, when he was seen swimming at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. According to friends, Steven was only wearing gray shorts when he was last seen. He lived on Greenview Court in San Francisco at the time. Very few details are available in his case.

Steven was a 22-year-old white male who was 6'0-6'1 and 160 lbs. He has brown hair, green eyes, and freckles. A photo of him posted in the SF Examiner shortly after he went missing shows him with chin to shoulder length hair, as well as a beard and mustache. His facial hair is curly, and his head hair is wavy in texture.

A less recent photo of Steven. From NamUs.

Steven's dental x-rays are not available. He has 27 exclusions on NamUs, including Vacaville John Doe 1979 and Malheur County (OR) John Doe 1977. His NamUs page (#MP33012) was last updated on July 15, 2024.

Anyone with information regarding Steven should contact police sergeant Mark Mitchinson of the SFPD at (415) 553-0123. The agency case number is 76-3037334. Any little piece of information counts.

 
Note: While this write-up was originally posted on July 6, 2025, I regularly check for updates to NamUs pages and edit my posts accordingly. This write-up was last edited on July 29, 2025.

Sources

NamUs 

CA DOJ

Doe Network

Charley Project 

SF Examiner 2/6/76 

WebSleuths