Where is Kevin Ray Boney? Indigenous Houstonian vanishes after strange encounter outside theatre
HOUSTON - Kamichia Patterson-Boney is looking for her brother, Kevin Ray Boney.
"He liked to live under the radar," Kamichia says. "We're Native American, so he didn't want the government knowing everything. He always got paid under the table and everything."
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While his family says it was not unusual for him to go a long time before making contact, they grew suspicious after a strange encounter in April 2007. Kevin was walking out of a theater near Veterans Memorial Drive and Highway 1960 in Houston with his mother, sister, and several nieces.
"Some guy came up, and was like 'hey dude' and tried to get argumentative with my brother," Kamichia recalls. "I remember he had glasses. He had an old Honda Accord and his car was filled up with junk."
Kamichia did not know the man. Neither did her family. Don't believe Kevin did, either. That was the last night Kevin was seen. She has not been able to obtain surveillance footage nor been told anything about whether police have interviewed the strange man.
Kevin had plans at the time to move to Oklahoma and get back together with the mother of his child.
"My younger brother's dad was living in Houston, and he was going to ride with him back to Oklahoma. He's the last one that saw him. He said Kevin came over and brought his stuff over, but he never came back."
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After dropping off his bag, Kamichia says Kevin never came back for the ride. He never made contact with the family again.
When police went to talk to the father of Kevin's younger brother about being the last person to see Kevin, Kamichia says he wouldn't talk. Now, she claims they can't find him. She knows he's alive, but believes he's evading police. She also says this man had abused her and four of her siblings in the past.
It gets even stranger. One day, a knock on her mother's door: Kamichia describes police barging in looking for Kevin.
"They made my mother get in the middle of the living room floor with her boyfriend, and they're like 'we know he's here, we know we've seen him. He's driving that Suburban,' and my mom says no, that's my daughter driving that Suburban," Kamichia says, saying she was the one who'd been driving the vehicle, noting that she and her brother always looked alike.
The raid felt random at the time. Now, Kamichia says the family worries it was not actually police. Her mother told her none of the officers were in any uniform.
Years carried on, Kevin never called, and no clues ever came in.
For Kamichia, the loss feels hardest around Kevins birthday and in April. "My mother has been gone for 10 years and I think one of the reasons why is she worried so much about her son and not knowing where he's at," Kamichia says.
Kevin is diabetic. The family worries about whether he's receiving the right care. Kamichia has been told that if Kevin were to have any run-in with the law or end up in a hospital, he would likely be brought back to Houston.
"Maybe he's in witness protection," Kamichia speculates. "Because now his daughter is married and has two kids, so I don't think he would be away from that. He adored kids. If you don't want to be seen, that's fine. Just tell us you're OK. Just tell us you're OK."
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Kevin is one of thousands of indigenous people who have gone missing in the United States yet received minimal public attention. Kamichia hopes people will study her brothers face and contact the Texas Center for the Missing with any ideas or clues on what may have happened to Kevin.
Full details on Kevin's disappearance can be found on his NAMUS profile, which the family keeps updated. Watch the family talk more about the case on The Missing: Live.