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Fredric H. Yamamoto was last seen Sept. 29 in Bothell, Wash. The 56-year-old is believed to have taken an inflatable kayak out on Lake Washington.
By Nalea J. Ko, Reporter
Published December 29, 2009
Missing-person fliers with Fredric H. Yamamoto’s smiling photo are no longer hanging at the local Safeway store his neighbors said he frequented. It was one of the only places neighbors said the “quiet” Yamamoto went to when he left his rented Bothell, Wash. townhouse. He disappeared, they said, as if he had gone to the market and never returned.
In October Yamamoto’s abandoned car was located by a security guard at Denny Park and eventually towed and impounded on Oct. 14.
Snohomish County Sheriff Department officials searched the vehicle Nov. 20, finding no signs of foul play. One thing recovered of interest was an empty, inflatable kayak bag. The discovery suggested to his family that Yamamoto, 56, had paddled off in a kayak on Lake Washington. A kayak or paddle has not been found.
A private investigator hired by the family continues to canvass the area with fliers, but Yamamoto’s acquaintances and family said there are many unanswered questions in his disappearance nearly three months later.
“I wish I knew. It would sure answer some questions,” said Sharon Martin, a residential property manager, when asked about Yamamoto’s whereabouts. “I hope he didn’t decide to end his life. I really hope that he went off with somebody, maybe met somebody at that park and they took off and went someplace. That would be nice. At least he wouldn’t be gone forever.”
Martin manages the 81-unit Park Lane Townhouses where Yamamoto resided for about four years, she said. She had no reason to be concerned about Yamamoto’s wellbeing until the month of October.
“There was never any thought about him in October when he wasn’t around. It just didn’t occur to me to be concerned,” Martin explained. “My daughter lives in the same building as him and she came over maybe the middle of October and she said, ‘Mom there’s something wrong.’”
Her daughter’s suspicions would prove to be well founded.
Yamamoto’s Disappearance
By all accounts, Yamamoto’s daily life is as big of a mystery as his disappearance. Yamamoto was raised in Tokyo, Japan with his sister Ellen. They were “American military dependents,” she said. Yamamoto later graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif. where his parents eventually retired. Yamamoto later moved to Washington State. His sister, who lives in California, described him as a “skilled photographer” and “accomplished classic/rock guitar player.”
“Fred did not leave a letter or any messages, so I can’t say it’s a suicide or accident,” Ellen Yamamoto said in an e-mail to the Pacific Citizen. “The last time we spoke he was upbeat and there was no indication anything was wrong.”
Yamamoto’s sister hired a private investigator on Nov. 16 after traveling to Washington State when word of his disappearance surfaced. His family was notified when Yamamoto did not pay his November rent.
Martin also called the Snohomish County Sheriff Department to open a missing person’s case.
“Let me tell you about Fred,” Martin said. “He was a total loner. Very much a stay-at-home and not-bother-anybody type of guy. Absolutely one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.”
Yamamoto always paid his rent three months in advance, giving Martin a check a few weeks before the day it was due, she said.
“[On] Sept. 28 he came in and he sat down to write out his rent check and he handed it to me and it was for one month. And he said, ‘This is all I can do.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s fine,’” said Martin over the phone. The change in Yamamoto’s pattern of payment “shocked” Martin.
Other than that Martin did not notice anything out of the ordinary until her daughter, who had last seen Yamamoto in September coming back from the grocery store, said something was awry.
“You know because he was so quiet and kept to himself, the majority of the people around him didn’t even notice he was gone,” Martin said.
She tried contacting Yamamoto’s family in California, but could not reach them with the old contact information on file. A maintenance man entered Yamamoto’s unit during the first week of November to check on him.
“Apparently the towing company sent him a letter,” said Georgia Kearns, the private investigator hired by Yamamoto’s sister. “They posted a notice on the person’s door. That’s how the landlady found that notice and said ‘Good grief, obviously something’s wrong. Fred didn’t take a trip.’”
Search for Answers
The 56-year-old is believed to have taken an inflatable kayak out on Lake Washington the day he disappeared. Kearns said she intends to continue passing out posters in the lake area in the hopes of shedding light on Yamamoto’s disappearance.
“Anytime when someone goes missing and — a family member turns up missing — if there’s something we could do in terms of increasing public awareness we should do that,” said Karen Yoshitomi, JACL Pacific Northwest regional director.
“It’s also a support to the family as well as knowing efforts are being made to at least try and bring some closure. I can’t image how difficult it might be not knowing.”
His sister Ellen said she was devastated when she heard about her brother. She appeared on the local TV news stations as cadaver dogs searched the park on Nov. 21 where his car was found.
Martin said she never saw Yamamoto with a kayak or heard him mention camping, hiking or kayaking.
“The lake is maybe 10 miles from here,” she explained. “Why would he pick that place? It’s like way off the beaten track. It just seems strange to me that he would find this little park that’s kind of like in a residential area and unless you had a map and really knew what you were looking for — why would he pick that place?”
The towing company that impounded Yamamoto’s car said they found a map in his car, explained Kearns.
“The guy at Mac’s Towing told me that on the seat of the car were hand-written instructions on how to get to that park,” Kearns added, “And so he said, to him, it seemed to him like probably Fredric was planning on meeting someone, who had given him instructions on how to get there on the phone. Well, we don’t know that. He could have MapQuest-ed it.”
She said they could not determine how Yamamoto got those instructions until the sheriff’s department analyzes his computers, which were retrieved from his townhouse.
Yamamoto’s family will return to his townhouse to clear out his belongings, Martin said, at the end of December.
Most who knew Yamamoto want more attention paid to a man who often went unnoticed in his life.
“It’s very hard to stop looking when there’s so many unanswered questions and you don’t feel like the police are doing much and they feel like it’s a closed case and that he just drowned,” Kearns said.
“It’s such a tragedy for the family. The not knowing.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Snohomish County Sheriff Department’s tip line at 425/388-3845.
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