Thousand Oaks man remains missing
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? Jeffrey Scott Howard, 40, is 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has a medium build, brown hair and green eyes. He and his car, a burgundy 2003 Hyundai Elantra with California license plate 5KRP048, have been missing since Thurs., Dec. 21. STAN HOWARD Special to the Acorn

It's a mystery that so far no one has a clue how to solve. No one knows where to look for Jeffrey Scott Howard, so police, family and friends of the missing Thousand Oaks man are searching everywhere they can think of.

The last time his wife, Thue Howard, or anyone else reports seeing Howard, 40, was around 2:30 a.m. on Thurs., Dec. 21.

His father, Stan Howard of Arizona, said Jeffrey left home in the early morning with about $80 in his wallet and without the cellphone he usually carried.

According to a missing person report filed with police at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 21, his wife said Howard had complained of having a headache at 2:30 a.m. When Thue Howard woke up at around 5 a.m., her husband and his burgundy 2003 Hyundai Elantra were gone.

Thousand Oaks detectives are investigating Howard's disappearance from the couple's home in the 1800 block of Avenida de Las Flores. There is no known medical history linked to his disappearance or any explanation so far, said Capt. Ron Nelson, spokesperson for the sheriff's department.

"There is no evidence of foul play at this time," Nelson said.

Detectives have consulted family members, neighbors, clergy and others who know Howard. They are also tracking his financial dealings, Nelson said. There appears to be no record of anyone using items such as his ATM or credit cards.

He is a white male, 6 feet tall, of a medium build, with brown hair and green eyes. His car's California license plate is 5KRP048.

Family members from Arizona have come to town to try to help with the search and offer support for Howard's wife. The couple has a 9-week-old daughter, Jasmine.

"This has been a big shock, a horrible ordeal for the family. The family has had a terrible Christmas. We don't know what to do, where else to look; we don't have a lot to go on," Stan Howard said. Jeffrey Howard has been unemployed for about a year, Nelson said.

The father said his son had been under a lot of stress and had seemed disoriented a few days before his disappearance, but it would be unusual for him to leave his family.

"We communicated over the Internet a few days before he disappeared, and he was very upbeat. He was waiting to find out if he passed his real estate exam--which we knew he would because he is very bright and had gotten a 97 on the test he'd taken before--and had a job offer he was about to begin," his father said. "It's not like him to take off like this."

Stan Howard speculated that his son could have gone out for headache medicine. If he had seen someone's car broken down on the side of the road, he would have stopped and helped; he has done that before, Howard said.

He said his son likes to go to parks to be alone, so the family has searched all the parks and beaches they can think of. They have also driven for miles up and down the highways and the canyon roads. Stan Howard has even left fliers at airports around Southern California asking pilots to look around when they are in the air to see if they spot the car.

"It would be better if it were a white car or a lighter color," Stan Howard said. He added that he has looked through his son's computer, which the police now are searching.

"I couldn't find any clues on my son's computer," he said, only e-mails sent by Jeffrey, "a loving, positive man."

Police no longer wait the 24 hours they once did before beginning a search for missing persons. As soon as someone reports a person missing, officers immediately put the information into a statewide missing persons database.

Then police begin investigating, using additional resources if the person missing is a child, an Alzheimer's patient or otherwise considered at risk.

Anyone with information about Howard is asked to call Thousand Oaks detectives at (805) 494-8201.