VANISHED DRIVER'S STRIPPED CAR YIELDS NO CLUES.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The mystery over the disappearance of a 50-year-old Lancaster man deepened when his sports car was found stripped in the desert.

Sheriff's officials asked for the public's help in finding Elwyn Cundiff, who disappeared Dec. 22. He had recently begun showing signs of a mental problem, but deputies don't know if that had any bearing on his disappearance.

``We don't know what happened,'' Detective Diane Harris said.

Cundiff's Corvette was located Sunday in uninhabited desert near the southern boundary of Edwards Air Force Base. It had been stripped of parts by someone, Harris said.

Whether the car had been stolen elsewhere or had been driven there by Cundiff isn't known, Harris said.

Search teams, with help from dogs on the ground and a helicopter in the air, failed to turn up any sign of Cundiff as they hunted for him in the desert Monday, Harris said.

The car could have been stolen from somewhere Cundiff parked it, or he could have been a carjacking victim, Harris said. Cundiff also could have driven the car to the desert where someone later came across it and stripped it, she said.

Cundiff was last seen about 10 p.m. Dec. 22 leaving his home in the 43800 block of Shiloh Lane. His son reported him missing the next morning, deputies said.

Authorities said Cundiff is white, 5 feet 6 inches tall and 175 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He has a tattoo of a tribal band and a Chinese symbol on his upper right arm, and he was wearing a white, long-sleeve shirt, black pants and tan suede slippers when last seen by anyone who reported doing so.

Anyone with information on him was asked to call Harris or Sgt. Delores Scott at [phone] or the Lancaster sheriff's station at [phone].

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