Reward Offered In Baffling Disappearance Of Santa Clarita Man

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA.com) – Detectives are hoping that a hefty reward will help trigger new leads in the mysterious disappearance of a 58-year-old Santa Clarita man in January.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Tuesday that the city of Santa Clarita is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the "apprehension and/or conviction" of a suspect in the disappearance of William Cierzan.

On Jan. 26, between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Cierzan disappeared from his home in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita.

His wife of 28 years, Linda Cierzan, said that when she spoke to him by phone at about 4 p.m. that afternoon, he told her that he was making dinner. When she arrived home from work, she found his truck parked outside. His wallet, keys and jacket were in the home, but he was nowhere to be found. Cierzan's family said he was last seen by his nephew that day before he vanished.

The sheriff's department said blood was later found in the home. That blood is still being analyzed by a laboratory and detectives are awaiting those results.

Linda told CBS2 Tuesday that she often replays her last conversation with her husband.

"It's just a normal conversation that we have, we talk every single day," she said.

Cierzan works at Six Flags Magic Mountain, but had the day off.

Video from a neighbor's security camera showed no sign of Cierzan. However, the footage did show a white-colored SUV backing up to the garage in the early evening. The video shows the SUV leaving minutes later. At a Feb. 1 news conference, detectives said the truck belongs to a family member, but did not specify who. It's unclear if the driver of the SUV was Cierzan's nephew.

Speaking to KCAL9 by phone in February, Cierzan's sister said her son did not indicate that there were any signs of trouble prior to Will's disappearance.

"He (the nephew) said everything looked fine, everything was fine," Will Cierzan's sister, Andrea Peck, said. "I asked that question. You know, did he have a headache? Was he not feeling good? Was he acting like, did you guys get into any kind of argument. We went through all that. And it was kind of like, no, nothing."

Anyone with information on the case should call the sheriff's Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS.