After a fruitless 25-year search, a California girl has discovered her long-lost brother in a USA TODAY story. But the case might not be the heartwarming reunion it first gave the impression to be.
When Marcella Nasseri, a Northern California native, noticed a USA TODAY article from May asking for readers’ assist in figuring out a nonverbal man at a Los Angeles County hospital, she was shocked. Local regulation enforcement confirmed the person was his brother, Thomas Manizak, who disappeared in 1999.
But new particulars uncovered by USA TODAY reveal that Manizak is a registered intercourse offender, convicted of abusing a baby in 1993, a Lassen County Sheriff’s Department captain confirmed Wednesday. Manizak spent three years in county jail for the crime, Capt. Mike Carney stated in his workplace in Susanville, California.
Carney stated he was initially informed that Manizak had been fingerprinted, however then realized that had by no means occurred and that he had been recognized utilizing pictures and his sister’s constructive identification.
The Los Angeles Police Department failed or uncared for to fingerprint Manizak, which might have helped determine him, Carney stated. But after Manizak’s sister knowledgeable his division that the Los Angeles man was her brother, officers entered his identify into the system and located the 1993 intercourse offender checklist.
“I assume he did not cooperate after they tried to fingerprint him,” Carney stated. “We have been informed he was unable to stroll or speak, so I do not know what occurred to him.”
{A photograph} of Thomas Manizak showing on California’s Megan’s Law web site, which lists registered intercourse offenders within the state.
Registered intercourse offender ‘roaming round’
The circumstances of Manizak’s disappearance are nonetheless unclear. Nasseri says he final had contact with the household in August 1999.
Six years earlier than his disappearance, Manizak was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts and oral copulation with a baby beneath 14, which led to his identify being positioned on the intercourse offender registry.
Carney stated Manizak was prosecuted in close by Plumas County, the place he served his jail sentence. He then registered as a intercourse offender in Lassen County, however inside a few years he had left city. He didn’t register within the jurisdiction he moved to, which is a violation of California regulation, Carney stated.
“He went to Oregon and from then on, based on his household, he was only a free soul and wandering round,” Carney stated.
Missing individuals reviews present Manizak was final seen in July 1999, when he was 28 years outdated.
When he disappeared, Manizak was driving throughout the nation in his van. His final contact with household was a telephone name to his mom in August 1999, Nasseri stated.
Because of his diabetes, Manizak might have slipped right into a “diabetic coma” if he hadn’t taken insulin repeatedly, based on the Doe network. He is entitled to incapacity advantages, however didn’t gather them or use his medical card whereas he was lacking.
An avid camper, Manizak would decide up hitchhikers, based on Network, a nonprofit that works with regulation enforcement to attempt to determine lacking individuals. When he disappeared he had tenting provides with him.
Marcella and Tommy in 1977.
The fundraiser raises greater than $11,000
On a GoFundMe web page posted after his brother’s location, Nasseri wrote that he had disappeared “with no hint.” Authorities by no means situated his car, he wrote.
The GoFundMe web page created by Nasseri was nonetheless on-line as of 4pm native time on Wednesday. He obtained greater than $11,500 in donations after detailing his objective of shifting Manizak from Los Angeles County to a facility in Lassen County. The description of the submit additionally stated that she needed to ship him a tool so he might hearken to music.
Interviewed Wednesday by USA TODAY, Nasseri stated she had at all times been her brother’s “protector.” What Manizak did within the Nineteen Nineties was “disgusting and horrible,” he stated.
“But on the finish of the day, he is nonetheless my brother, and I’m not turning my again on my flesh and blood,” Nasseri stated. “I like him and have been searching for him for 25 years: every thing else is exterior noise, he’s my brother and I like him.”
The crime of sexual harassment induced “huge ache” in his household, Nasseri stated, made worse by Manizak’s disappearance.
Nasseri stated he plans to go to his brother as quickly as he can depart his dwelling, the place he stated he has the duty of caring for the animals.
“When I’m launched, I’m going to fly proper over there to fulfill him and I am unable to wait,” she stated.
Nasseri stated he’s additionally working to switch Manizak to a different medical facility nearer to his dwelling, about 600 miles from the hospital the place he’s presently hospitalized.
She wrote on the fundraising web page that she hoped to purchase him used garments, pencil and paper as a result of he cherished to attract, and a listening machine along with his favourite songs to assist his reminiscences come again, however she did not find the money for.
This article initially appeared on USA TODAY: The dark side of the missing man’s story: He’s a registered sex offender
