The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin -Sulkowski. And I'm your co -host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Cold and Missing. I'm your
host, Ali. And I'm your co -host, Eli. Welcome back, everyone. Again, apologies at the top. Sorry we had to take last week off a little bit unexpectedly, but summer is winding down here. Labor Day is over. We're back to school. So, well, not that we're in school, but it's back to school season. And I'm sure a lot of you have little ones headed back to school. So we're back into the groove of things. Yes, that's right. We are about to usher in fall. And this week
we are on episode 140. Yes, and this is a missing person case this week. All right, let's get into it. Let's do it. So just as a quick content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person. Today, we are talking about the missing person case of Michael Masaoay. And this takes place in San Francisco, California in January of 1989. But first, a little bit about Michael. Michael
is 16 years old in 1989. He is a junior at Sacred Heart High School, where he was known as a nice, decent kid who enjoyed playing in the school band. He played the clarinet and carried it with him often. He is Filipino, stood about 5 foot tall, and weighed around 160 pounds in 1989. He had thick black hair, brown eyes, and wore glasses. He also had a distinguishing feature. White scars in the shape of spots that covered his body, but it's not very noticeable in photos,
however. Michael lived at home with his parents, Conchita and Roger Masaoay. By all accounts, he was a typical teenager who loved music and had a close bond with his family. There was nothing going on in his life that would make his family, friends, loved ones think that he would want to run away. And now, a timeline of events. Wednesday. January 25th, 1989. The morning of January 25th began like any other. Michael woke up, got ready for school, and packed his dark blue duffel bag,
which he used instead of a backpack. Inside, he placed his school books and his clarinet. Around 7 .30 a .m., he left home dressed in a black Adidas jacket over a purple shirt with blue corduroy pants and white leather Converse high tops. But Michael would never make it to school that day, or he'd at least never make it into class. Later, his family would learn that Sacred Heart High School had actually been closed that day, something that they only discovered
after he disappeared. It's unclear if Michael knew he didn't have school. His parents seemed to think that he likely discovered that school was closed when he arrived there that morning. That morning, Michael was spotted at 9th and Harrison Street. Later that afternoon, he was seen again at 7th and Market Street. It's about an 18 -minute walk between those two spots. Both times, it was reported that he was alone. It's unclear exactly the timeline of Michael being
reported missing. It does seem like his parents reported him missing that day, especially as they discovered that school was closed and he had been missing for hours at that point. but there are no details about how quickly police start looking for him and what efforts are made in the area in those critical first few hours. It does seem that police were not worried, that they thought Michael had simply wandered off, maybe was hanging out with friends, and that
he would return home soon. January 30th, 1989, just five days after Michael was last seen, another case captured national attention. In Dublin, California, 12 -year -old Eileen Mishloff was kidnapped while walking home from school. Her case dominated the headlines, and Michael's disappearance receives little coverage in the news. However, the parents of Eileen do their best to bring awareness to Michael's case as well, as they
campaign for their daughter. Eileen is still missing, and we'll cover her disappearance in a future episode. Saturday, February 4th, 1989. Ten days had passed before Michael's story starts hitting the newspaper for the first time. Police did not believe Michael had been kidnapped in the same way that they theorized that Aline had been. However, police acknowledged that it is strange for Michael to have been missing this
long and not returned home. Even more strange that he hadn't been spotted by anyone since January 25th. Michael's parents had been searching tirelessly. Conchita told reporters, quote, We have talked to his schoolmates and given leaflets to everyone we can think of. We're doing everything we can to bring him home. A community meeting of friends, family, and schoolmates, nearly 200 people, was held at a local church to organize the search
and get the word out about Michael. From that meeting, weekly prayer vigils for Michael began. That same Saturday, friends and family continued the search throughout the city for any sign of Michael and hang missing person posters everywhere. But the weeks continued to pass. On February 21, 1989, so Michael had been missing for 27 days at this point. At St. Joseph's Church, weekly prayer vigils continued. His mom, Conchita, told those gathered, quote, This meeting is to revitalize
interest in Michael. We are really baffled and frustrated that there's been no news to help us locate him. He's got to be somewhere or with somebody. We're still hoping he's okay. Every night we have a prayer for all missing children. After the vigil that night, volunteers continue their weekly ritual of hanging posters of Michael's face throughout San Francisco. That same day, unbeknownst to Michael's family, A couple was
walking on Baker Beach. Baker Beach would have been about five miles from where Michael was last seen near Market Street. An Army lieutenant and his wife are walking near the Presidio when they came across a dark blue duffel bag that had been wedged under very large rocks. The lieutenant tried to pull it free, but couldn't. Even though he couldn't get it out, he managed to open it and look inside. He found a clarinet case, Two books, a pair of dark trousers, and a white t
-shirt. When he opened one of the books, he saw the name Michael Basalwe. The couple put the belongings back in the bag and left it on the beach. They don't think to report it because they hadn't seen Michael's name in the news. They weren't aware that they found the backpack of a missing boy who hadn't been seen in 27 days. Nearly a week passes. On February 27th, It's been 33 days since Michael was last seen. That day, the woman from the couple saw a news story
about Michael's disappearance on TV. The couple called the police to report what they had found on the beach. The next day, February 28th, police, U .S. Park Police, and park rangers, accompanied by the couple, go back to Baker Beach to locate the bag. They're able to find it. It's still wedged between the rocks. But in the days since the couple had found the bag, it had been a week at this point, some items had gone missing. Only part of Michael's clarinet was all that was left,
according to reports. Later that day, Michael's parents confirmed the bag was his. Conchita recalled, quote, My husband bought him the bag. It was torn once and I sewed it. I saw the seam I sewed. The Massauis also told investigators that Baker Beach was familiar to Michael. He had spent time there with his family fishing the previous summer. Police searched the beach for additional evidence or any sign of Michael, but nothing more connected
to Michael was found. They urged the public to come forward if anyone had seen Michael on the beach on January 25th or in the days after that. In May of 1989, It's been four months since Michael disappeared. A bill was signed that allocated $50 ,000 in reward money for kidnapping cases. Immediately, rewards were issued for missing children, including Michael. For the first time in official reports, his case was publicly linked
to the possibility of kidnapping. On Sunday, June 25th, Michael has been missing for five months now. Michael's family celebrates his 17th birthday. There still had been no sign of him. The months and weeks continue to go on. In January of 1990, it's been a year since Michael vanished, San Francisco police published his name in the paper, officially classifying him as kidnapped. But then Michael's case really falls out of the
news and goes cold. Over the years, there have been a few age -progressed photos of him created. the most recent one being him around 40 years old, but he would be 53 years old today. So with that, if you know anything about the disappearance of Michael Masaoay, you are urged to contact the San Francisco Police Department at 415 -553 -0123. So that is the case of Michael Masaoay.
Something that drew me into Michael's case... pretty immediately was hearing about the start of his day, the familiarity of just going to high school and how you start your morning. It was so palpable in the way that you described it, particularly surrounding his duffel bag. You know, we all had large bags or large backpacks
in high school. And yeah, he just, I don't know, felt... similar to me um just young and getting ready to start the day but it was a a process that I know really well just like you so so immediately I I could almost feel like I was next to him experiencing his morning yeah like the ritual of getting ready for school um this is like so familiar like I've been out of school for more than a decade at this point but there's still such a familiarity about getting ready for school
and just like what that feels like I agree like knowing that Michael's morning started out like every other morning is like comforting in a way but then also like that brings the mysterious like of his disappearance up like it was just any other morning which you know brings me to my first question about whether or not he knew he had school. You know, and obviously I have my opinion, but I'd love to know yours. Yeah, this is a really important area for me. If he
knew or if he didn't. I'm thinking back to when like we would have a random Wednesday off in high school and teachers would kind of mention it like on Tuesday and they're like, oh, and we'll cover this again on Thursday. Like it would be mentioned throughout the school day. But at the same time, you know, according to his family and reports, like his family didn't know school was closed that day. And they don't think that
Michael did either. But it's one of those things we might not know because there's also a part of me. And this is purely speculation, of course, but it's, you know, maybe he. Well, now that I'm thinking about it, he packed his bag like he was going to school, you know, like he brought his books, his clarinet. So maybe he like truly didn't know. I think what clarified my answer for myself, which was I don't think he knew, was remembering the time period that we're in.
You know, when I saw 89 very quick, I was born in 88 very quickly. I was like, oh, he's my age, but he's not. He's 16 years older. And thinking about a person at that time in high school, you know, they didn't have the Internet or. They weren't communicating that way in the way that we do now. So I think if you're a busy, committed student, it's completely possible that you wouldn't know or that you would forget or someone didn't
remind you. It seems more possible that even back in the late 80s, you could have gone about your day with talking to minimal people. Therefore, the information just wouldn't be shuttled over to him. I think I think all of that is true.
And the fact that he packed his duffel bag for the day with with the books, because I think if I was really trying to pull a fast one on my parents and be like, oh, they think I have school, I'm just going to spend the day doing whatever I want, which at 16 would probably be very tempting for me as a person. I think I would have left the books because they're just so heavy. But I don't know. I don't know. It's a mystery that. We don't have answers for him taking his
clarinet as well. Something that made me think that maybe he really did. He really was planning to go to school. My follow up question specifically about the timeline is where the specific markers were that he was spotted. What is the distance from those like street markers to the school? Was he walking away from the school? That's where
I was trying to seek clarification. So assuming that Sacred Heart in 1989 is still in the general area where it is today, Sacred Heart High School is still a high school in San Francisco, I tried to figure out if they had moved or renovated. I couldn't quite find it, so I think that the campus is still similar to where it was in 1989. So the first spot he's seen that morning at 7th and Harris, that's kind of southwest of the school.
And it would have been about a half hour walk from the school to the place where he was spotted first that morning. And then the second spot, so that's going to be the Market Street area. That's an 18 minute walk from where he was seen. So that's kind of heading a little bit north, but still in the same general area of where he was spotted that morning. However, Baker Beach is about five miles away and he's like really headed northwest at that point. And it looks
like a pretty far walk. You know, just typing it into Google Maps, it looks like it would take almost two hours to walk that distance. So that's a big question for me is what happened there? Because I don't know and I'm not very familiar with San Francisco. I don't know if there's public transit that would really help. I don't get any options when I'm in Google Maps to like transit this out and take it that way. So I don't know if he got a car, if he got a ride. How did he
end up at Baker Beach? Did he in fact walk there? There's a lot of questions. I'm just going to vouch to say that I think that there was public transit, obviously. I don't know if he was using it. So it does look like actually there is public transportation, but it would take an hour still. So doable, but... That's a question. Did he ride public transit? Did anybody see him on public transit? It doesn't seem like we got any witnesses
after he was seen near Market Street. Okay, so we know that there's public transit in the area. We don't necessarily know if he was using it either way. It's a pretty time -consuming ride, at least one way, about an hour. But walking, even... You know, mapping that out, I think the walking distance of how long it would take someone changes on person to person because the terrain of San Francisco is so hilly. Just kind of a wild terrain, especially if you've never been
there before or navigated it. And with all of those kind of dips and valleys in the roads and neighborhoods, it seems like to me. It's a place where someone could go missing quite easily. And then at Baker Beach, one thing that I was like really interested in or like what's curious to me about Baker Beach, obviously, that's where his duffel bag was found. But when it was initially found by the army lieutenant and his wife, it was wedged under like big, heavy rocks. How did
it get that way? That's a question I have because the army lieutenant, who I assume is kind of physically fit in some aspect, couldn't get it out from underneath the rocks or couldn't get it unstuck. He was able to open it. You know, we do know that. But how did his bag get like that? Because it doesn't seem like to me if the army lieutenant could get it unstuck that a 16 -year -old boy would have had the strength to lift it. I'm glad that you mentioned his age
again. I know Michael is 16 at the time. But regarding him being five feet tall, I think it's worth mentioning that that's a height of an average 10 to 12 -year -old. Maybe a 10 to 12 -year -old is even just a little bit shorter. Even 4 '10 versus 5 foot, it's not a huge difference. I think it's possible that Michael could have been mistaken for a child if this case is a kidnapping because of his height. Yeah, and there were a lot of missing girls at this time, but like all
around the same age. I know I mentioned one of them, Eileen, but there were a few other cases of kids going missing around San Francisco. I think that's why it's kind of frustrating that Michael was initially written off as a runaway or, you know, that he was playing some hooky, hanging out with friends. Like, it really doesn't seem like there was any urgency, even after other kids started showing up missing. We've said this in other cases before, and I'm sure our listeners
agree with us here. But to me, it's treat. treat a case like this every single time like the child is missing. Because at the end of the day, it's a child. No child's case should be gaining more and or less attention. They all deserve the same. And they all deserve the same amount of effort to be put towards them. And for this case specifically, I don't know why. I don't know if it was because
he's a boy or if... Honestly, I don't know. I don't know why the story was kind of curved this way that that he was a runaway because so much time was lost because of that decision. And that that's very heartbreaking. Yeah. You know, there was nothing going on in Michael's life that would really lead anyone to think that he would go missing. You know, he wasn't fighting with his parents. He hadn't done this before. He was not
really a candidate for a runaway. But it was said by the Army lieutenant that there was like another pair of pants and a white T -shirt in his duffel bag. I wonder, did he keep a change of clothes with him? Did he expect to have gym that day and maybe just wanted to change into some fresh clothes? The clothes are curious to me if that was something he always carried or if that was like kind of a strange item to be in his bag. Of course, when they recovered the
bag, those items were gone. I will say for me as a kid and teen who was active in school and sports and I did in my duffel that I carried for sports, I did have extra pairs of clothes in my bag just because I was changing environments a lot and getting sweaty and having to shower. I think maybe it's possible that those clothes were in there for marching band rehearsal or just another. set of clothes to change into afterwards. Again, it's all speculation, but I think there
being a second set is still worth noting. Yeah, well, I don't think Michael ran away just because there was a second set of clothes, but I do just wonder if he anticipated something that day or if that could, like, lead to plans. Like, if he knew he was going to be at the beach and in case he got wet, you know, I don't know. There's just so much we don't know about Michael's case. So that just like leaves all this room for speculation and wondering and trying to put yourself in his
shoes. But we just truly don't know. It's very threadbare case. Something that we do know for certain, though, is his mother knows immediately that it's his bag. And I think that was for me in listening, the most gut wrenching part is not wanting it to be. And also probably wanting it to be and knowing that it is once you see a very specific marker on a bag that you fix for your son. I don't know. I really felt for
her and the parents in that moment. I'm sure recognizing and realizing whose bag that was, to say the least, a massive moment for them. It's so sad that this case really... loses traction. I'm so proud of the community and that the way they showed up for this young man and that other parents of missing children advocated for him
too. We see it time and time again, especially in the cold and missing world, especially when cases are involving missing children, the way communities rally around family of a missing loved one and that's you know that's exactly what's happening here yeah you know his mother I believe she is still alive and with us I saw a video of her that she did with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children I think it was like six years ago but you can just tell
how heartbroken she still is for her missing son and I really would love to get answers in this case and for Michael to be talked about be mentioned and for Michael to be looked for by others today like I I want energy in Michael's case I want his name talked about I want people to be thinking of him and you know looking into a stranger's face thinking oh could that be Michael Massawi like I just, I want that for him because
I want it for his family. Like, I don't want them to feel alone in this search for him because I feel like they've just been alone. They didn't get the media. They didn't get the police. Like, there was so little resources for them. And that's just wildly unfair. And for a missing child, for me, anybody under the age of 18, we should know their whereabouts at all times. Not crazy, but like there's no reason a child should go
missing in America and not be found. With the resources, with the wealth that we have, this is where energy should go is towards missing children. So again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Michael Masaoay in January of 1989 or his whereabouts today, please call the San Francisco Police Department at 415 -553 -0123. If you are not already, please, please check us out on Instagram, our page at Cold and Missing. We post current missing person cases.
And if there's any information we need to update you on about the podcast, you can find it there at Cold and Missing. This week, I will also have graphics of Michael with the age progression. Yeah, and please share those photos, the age progression. Like I said, let's get some energy in this case. Let's get his name out there. Let's let Michael Massawi be a known name and a known face. Let's get it out there. So if you could share it in your communities. On your socials,
please do. It helps so much in these cases. And we also have on our website, www .coldandmissing .com, transcripts, the official transcripts. So I go through, I make sure everything is spelled correctly. So if you or someone you love is hard of hearing and needs to follow along that way, you can find them there along with all our past episodes. And if you could take a moment to leave us a review in your podcast player. Five stars,
please. Five stars goes a long way. And if you've been listening for a long time, we would love those five stars from you. Absolutely. And, you know, one thing we hear again and again in the reviews is that there's so many cases, even like true crime fans, people who listen to a lot of podcasts have never heard of. So I take great pride in bringing these lesser known cases to you. So five stars will get these cases to more folks. Thank you so much for joining us and listening
at Cold and Missing. I'm your host Allie. And I'm your co -host Eli. Have a good week and stay safe y 'all. Stay safe y 'all.