Skeletal remains of Oregon doctor missing since 2013 found near California's Lake Shasta
Forensic anthropologists identified the man whose skeletal remains discovered north of the town of Shasta Lake in June as a retired Oregon doctor who'd been missing for more than a decade, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday morning, the sheriff's office announced the remains belonged to Max Eugene McIntosh of Medford, Oregon.
McIntosh was the director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinic until he retired in 2012, according to the Medford Mail Tribune. McIntosh was last seen in Medford on March 22, 2013, according to the California Department of Justice.
The retired doctor, then 75, had left his Medford home that day to visit a cousin in Missouri, but never showed up, according to relatives' statements taken by Medford police and reported in the Record Searchlight on March 28, 2013.
Family members told police the McIntosh had no memory or mental issues, but may have showed signs he wasn't thinking clearly when he left his home because groceries were found sitting out on a counter to spoil, Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau said in 2013.
Police found no activity on McIntosh’s cell phone after he called a family member at 11 a.m. on March 22, 2013. Budreau said McIntosh's credit cards weren't used.
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Shasta County sheriff’s deputies later found McIntosh's Ford Explorer near Lake Shasta on the Packers Bay access road. The vehicle had run out of gas, Budreau said.
In 2013, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office reported deputies found no clues where the man could be. There were no signs he was attacked or otherwise had become the victim of foul play.
“If he is lost in the woods his chances of survival are slim,” Budreau said a week after McIntosh vanished.
A decade later, on June 23, 2023, a deputy coroner arrived on Packers Bay Road at 3 p.m to examine skeletal remains found in the area, which is near the town of Shasta Lake, according to a report by Lt. Tyler Thompson, Shasta County's chief deputy coroner.
Packers Bay Road road winds for almost two miles north and northeast, from the Packers Bay Public Boat Ramp to where it merges with Northwoods Drive and then intersects with Interstate 5, west of the highway.
The county sent the remains to forensic anthropologists for analysis. They identified them as belonging to McIntosh, Thompson said in the report.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Skeletal remains of missing Medford, Oregon man found near Lake Shasta
