feb 1, 1976 - Steven William Downes DISAPPEARANCE

Description:

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. 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 to curly in texture.

Steven's dental x-rays are not available. He has 26 exclusions on NamUs, including two Does found in CA (both found in San Diego County in 2010). Anyone with information regarding Steven should contact police sergeant Mark Mitchinson of the SFPD at (415) 553-0123.

EDIT: As of June 2025, Steven has 27 exclusions on NamUs; most recently, he has been ruled out as being Vacaville John Doe 1979.

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According to Ancestry.com, Steven was born on Feb. 8, 1953 in Alameda County to father John J Downes (b. ~1930 or 1931) and mother Irene Ethna Downes (nee Schimmel/Schimmer) (b. Oct. 8, 1931 in San Francisco). John and Irene had married on Mar. 22, 1952 in San Francisco. By 1957, the family lived at 2527 47th Ave in San Francisco, where John was a city policeman.
Steven's parents eventually separated, though both stayed in San Francisco. His mother married Benjamin Joseph Hennig on Nov. 26, 1966 in San Francisco; this was both of their second marriages. By 1969, Steven was attending Mission High School in San Francisco, though that same year he switched to Lowell High School, also in SF. In 1970 he continued to attend Lowell HS. By 1970, Steven's father John may have been living at 334 Fillmor[e] in San Francisco. It's unclear which parent Steven lived with while attending high school, or if they had split custody of him. He graduated in 1971.

Steven's stepfather Benjamin passed away in 2008. Irene is listed as having survived him, and there have not been any death records for her, so I am assuming she's still alive. In Benjamin's bio on FindAGrave, he has three children listed as having survived him: Greg Hennig, Mike Hennig, and Laura Elison. Steven is not mentioned anywhere in the bio/obituary.

I submitted Steven's case to be added to the Doe Network in March 2025; it was added a few weeks later.

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WRITE-UP COMPLETION DATE: April 2025
LAST UPDATED: June 11, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also/will be present on this timeline:
Vacaville John Doe 1979
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LUNAR PHASE:
ZODIAC SIGN: aquarius
DAY OF WEEK: Sunday

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