A Man Steps Out and Fails to Return

UPDATE: Brian Blaine Anderson, the man reported missing from Susanville, has been found deceased. That is the whole of it, and it is more than enough.

In Susanville, where a man may step out on an errand and be expected, by long habit if not by law, to come back again, one Brian Blaine Anderson, aged 66, has neglected that custom. He was last observed on Friday at four that afternoon, at North Fairfield Avenue and 4th Street.

Mr. Anderson is, in practical terms, 5 feet 11, 175 pounds, brown hair with a sensible concession to gray, and eyes of a similar persuasion. He is said to travel in a 2000 Toyota Tundra with a camper shell, an arrangement that suggests a man who prefers his shelter close at hand and his plans somewhat negotiable. The license plate, FISNLAB, reads like a private joke, though it offers no answer.

Authorities would like to hear from anyone who has seen him, and have provided a number for the purpose. In the meantime, the town goes on with its business, keeping a small place open in its thoughts for a man who stepped away and, for reasons not yet disclosed, did not step back.

Anyone with information in this investigation should call Lassen County Sheriff Dispatch at (530) 257-6121.