MAN'S REMAINS FOUND 5 YEARS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE.Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer It was a freezing night more than five years ago when 78-year-old Rudy Kavara was reported missing. His car was soon found near Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. , but there was no sign of the Granada Hills resident. His family assumed he had lost his way and died in the cold. This week, they learned they were right. Kavara's skull and attached lower jawbone jaw·bone n. The maxilla or, especially, the mandible. were found March 11 by excavators on the southwest edge of Edwards, a mile from where his damaged car was found in 1991. Remembering an extensive 10-day search conducted after Kavara was reported missing March 5, 1991, officials used dental records to identify Kavara, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. . ``It's a good feeling to know that there is an ending,'' said Cathy Kavara, the wife of the victim's only son, Randall Kavara. ``It was just crazy not finding him.'' Kavara, a retired Lockheed supervisor and one of nine brothers and sisters, will be buried in June next to his wife at a Chatsworth cemetery. Officials and family members say Kavara was on his way from his sister's house in Hesperia to a vacation home Vacation Home A home separate from an individual's primary residence that is used for recreational purposes and may also be rented out at unused times. Notes: For tax purposes, those who rent their vacation homes may result in a lower amount of allowable expense in Bullhead bullhead, common name for several species of fish. See catfish; sculpin. bullhead Any of several species of North American freshwater catfish in the genus Ictalurus, valued as food and sport fishes. Bullheads are related to the channel catfish (I. City when he became disoriented dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. and lost. His vehicle hit a sand berm berm: see beach. and was severely damaged. ``He burned out his engine but could free himself,'' said Cathy Kavara. ``He then left his hearing aid, glasses and all his identification and began walking.'' The 10-day search involved sheriff's deputies, Air Force officials using metal detectors, helicopters and bloodhounds. The few faint footsteps they found seemed to disappear. ``We did extensive searches from dawn until dusk for four nights,'' said sheriff's Sgt. Gordon Carne. ``But it gets to a point when there's nothing you can do. You know he couldn't have survived.'' ``It was a terribly freezing night in March,'' said Cathy Cavara. ``They said he probably died that same night - that he didn't suffer much.'' While officials still do not know how Kavara died, they believe he may have fallen into a pond or slipped into some quicksand quicksand State in which water-saturated sand loses its supporting capacity and acquires the characteristics of a liquid. Quicksand is usually found in a hollow at the mouth of a large river or along a flat stretch of stream or beach where pools of water become partly filled , Carne said. ``He was just about to come live with us,'' said Cathy Cavara, who lives with her husband and four children in Tennessee. ``We knew he was getting sick, so we wanted him to come live with us. He didn't like the East Coast. He didn't want to come, but we wanted to take care of him. It breaks my heart to know he couldn't have lived with us.'' |
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