Peter McColl was last seen departing from his family’s residence near The Alameda in Berkeley, California at approximately 11:00 a.m. on August 28, 1995. He told his brother that he planned to walk to the bus stop and take a bus to Cody’s Bookstore near Salon Avenue and Telegraph Avenue.
Peter never returned home and has not been heard from again. His wallet was discovered after his disappearance, but his identification cards were missing. He left $100 in cash behind in his room. He had just passed his driver’s test, but hadn’t gotten his license yet; it arrived in the mail a few weeks after he disappeared.
The driver of the AC Transit bus 43, near the corner of Redwood Road and 35th Street in Berkeley, claims Peter asked him directions to Montclair, California on the day of his disappearance. He appeared to have a prearranged meeting with an unidentified teenaged boy whom the bus driver also saw. The boy was 16 to 18 years old with blond hair, well-dressed, accented speech. The boy has never been identified and the bus driver’s sighting about Peter has not been confirmed.
A cab driver claims he drove a young man fitting Peter’s description, and a teenaged girl with red-streaked hair, to the airport to catch a Southwest Airlines flight shortly after Peter disappeared. This sighting has not been confirmed either and inquiries at the airline have not turned up any relevant information.
It’s unclear whether Peter left on his own volition. Following his disappearance, he could have travelled to Oregon, Florida, Louisiana, or Washington. Peter is a guitarist who used to row for his high school’s crew team. He enjoyed hiking in Tilden Park and riding his mountain bike in the Berkeley Hills, as well as music and poetry.
A thorough search of the area yielded no leads as to Peter’s whereabouts. In 1995, he was an honours student who vanished just a week before the start of his junior year at Berkeley High School.
According to Peter’s family members, he did not make any unusual phone calls or behave strangely prior to his disappearance; on the contrary, he appeared to be content with his life. It’s unusual for him to leave without warning, and he wasn’t carrying any extra clothing or money when he vanished.
There were several religious groups recruiting on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, where Peter’s father was then a professor, at the time of his disappearance. Peter is described as a deep-thinking, spiritual person, and his parents looked into the possibility that he had joined one of the groups, but they could find no evidence to support this theory.
Peter’s parents now live in Poulsbo, Washington, where they run a foster care facility for tro*ubled teens. His sister lives in Seattle, Washington and his brother lives in San Diego, California. Peter’s case remains unsolved.
