Crime Weekly - Kevin Verville Jr. | Stolen at 17 Days Old

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

On July 1, 1980, a young mother stood on the side of a remote road in northern San Diego County and watched a stranger drive away with her newborn son. The baby was only 17 days old. His name was Kevin Art Verville Jr., and more than 46 years later, he has never been found. But investigators believe there is a very real possibility that Kevin is still alive, and that he has spent his entire life unaware that the woman who raised him may not have been his biological mother. Now, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI are asking the public to take another look at Kevin’s case, including a new age-progression image showing what he may look like as an adult. Because somewhere, there may be a 46-year-old man whose entire identity began with a lie. We're taking a look into Kevin's case this week to spread the word about his disappearance, and hopefully help find him. Anyone with information about Kevin, the woman known as “Sheila,” or a child who unexpectedly appeared in someone’s life during the summer of 1980 is asked to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at: 1-800-THE-LOST That is 1-800-843-5678. Information can also be reported to the FBI at: 1-800-CALL-FBI That is 1-800-225-5324. Tips may also be submitted through the FBI’s online tip portal. Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derek Lavasher. And I'm Stephanie Harlow. So let's get right into it. On July 1st, 1980, a young mother stood on the side of a remote road in northern San Diego County and watched a stranger drive away with her newborn son. The baby was only 17 days old. His name was Kevin Art Verville Jr. and more than 46 years later, he has never been found. But investigators believe there is a very real possibility that Kevin is still alive and that he spent his entire life unaware that the woman who raised him may not have been his biological mother. Now, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the FBI are asking the public to take another look at Kevin's case, including a new age progression image showing what he may look like as an adult. Because somewhere, there may be a 46-year-old man whose entire identity began as a lie.

And we are covering this case, and I think this is really cool, because NeckMack actually reached out to us and some other true crime creators as well asking us to cover this story. And I think this is a great usage for the true crimes sector, the whatever, the genre, whatever you want to call it. And Neckmec, who is who's always done a great job and is always fighting to get these cases solved. We had the chance to sit down with Callahan Walsh in Las Vegas. Just a great guy, great family. You can just tell their heart and their minds are solely dedicated to this. I love the fact that even though this case is 46 years old, they're like, no, we're not forgetting about it because there are people still out there, including Kevin's mother, who are looking for answers. And if not for

podcasts like this, more than likely television wouldn't cover this story. Yeah, there's a lot of people, his entire family. And there's actually a good chance that, like, I feel like there's a good chance when I first looked at it. And I kind of had the same reaction as you do when we were going over. Like, it's been 46 years. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. But then I was looking at what happened and how many eyewitness statements there are. And like the description of the woman who took Kevin, there is a chance that if we talk about it and enough people talk about it, the information and the word might get to people, including Kevin, who, and he might see this. And so it's very interesting. I think it could be solved.

I think that it could be kind of reaching a resolution. So. Yeah. Let's talk about what happened because it's absolutely crazy. So Kevin Art Verville Jr. was born on June 14th, 1980. His parents were Angelina and Kevin Verville, Sr., obviously. Kevin Sr. was a young United States Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, and the family lived nearby at the Sterling Holmes apartment complex in Oceanside. So Sterling Homes provided off-based housing for military families, many of whom were young couples raising children on a relative. relatively limited military income. So Kevin Jr. was Angelina and Kevin Sr.'s first child. He'd reportedly been born with jaundice and remained in the hospital for approximately a week before finally coming home. The vervils were young, adjusting to life with the newborn, and likely dealing with the same worries that many new parents experience, especially the financial cost of diapers, formula, medical care, everything else a baby requires. and that vulnerability appears to be exactly what the woman who took Kevin intended to exploit.

So sometime before the abduction, an unfamiliar woman knocked on the Verville's apartment door. She introduced herself as Sheila. She claimed she represented an organization called Help, which she described as a program designed to assist young, low-income military families. Sheila told Angelina and Kevin Sr. that the organization could provide a service. with necessities such as diapers and baby formula. She also claimed the family might qualify for direct financial help. Now, this did not appear to be a random sales pitch delivered only to the vervilles because investigators later learned that the woman had spent several days walking around the Sterling Holmes complex and speaking to numerous residents. She appeared to be

establishing credibility by approaching multiple families, presenting herself openly, and describing a program that sounded specifically designed for military parents, Sheila made herself look legitimate. She told the vervilles that she would return and take them to the help offices so they could enroll Kevin in the program. And then on July 1st, 1980, she came back. So on that day, Kevin Sr. happened to have just returned from the grocery store and he was putting groceries away. And Sheila arrived and said it was time to go to the help office. But because Kevin Sr. was occupied at the apartment, it was decided that, Angelina and 17-day-year-old Kevin would ride with Sheila. So the woman was driving what witnesses

described as a gray or silver four-door sedan. Angelina got into the car with her newborn son, believing that she was being taken to enroll in a program that could help her family and help her baby. And then during the drive, Sheila said they needed to make a stop real quick. She claimed another mother also wanted to enroll her child in the program, and they needed to pick this woman up along the way. So the woman drove Angelina and Kevin into a remote rural part of northern San Diego County, reportedly near the Oklahoma Lake area. And when they arrived outside a house, Sheila asked Angelina to get out, walk to the door of the house, and tell the other mother that they had arrived. So Angelina obviously left her baby in the car for what she believed would be only a moment.

And according to the family, Angelina had barely gotten out of the car before Sheila accelerated away. Now, Angelina could only stand there, waving her arms and watching the car disappear with her 17-day-old son inside. She had been deliberately transported to an isolated area and separated from her baby. There was no second mother waiting inside the house, obviously. There was no help office. And investigators found no evidence that the help organization that Sheila claimed to represent even existed. So at that point, Angelina is left alone on the side of the road. This is in the 80s, so there's no cell phones.

She's in shock. Yeah. There's no immediate way for her to call for help, which is exactly what the Sheila woman intended. And according to Kevin's family, a man driving a truck eventually stopped and brought her to a police station. Angelina was reportedly so traumatized that she initially struggled to speak or explain what had happened. The San Diego FBI office became involved and investigators launched an extensive search for Kevin and Sheila, the unidentified woman, because you know that's not her real name. No. So, no.

Authorities canvassed the Sterlinghomes complex. They interviewed residents who had interacted with Sheila. And those conversations revealed something especially disturbing. The woman had apparently approached numerous families before choosing Kevin. Yeah, it was almost like what I've referred to in the past where you have like low level criminals who are door checking cars on the street to see if they're unlocked. Basically, she was doing the same thing, seeing what was out there, what potential target she had. And obviously she chose the vervils. Well, so the investigators believe that she was actually methodically searching for a baby who matched very specific characteristics.

Ah, that makes sense too? Yep. They think she was looking for a child younger than six months old who was at least partially Filipino. And Kevin's mother, Angelina, was born in the Philippines, making Kevin part Filipino. So that's led investigators to describe the woman's behavior as a form of baby shopping, searching families until. she located the particular type of child she wanted to take and then potentially raise as her own. Okay. That's crazy. Yeah. Now, I wonder how they come to the conclusion that it was for her, maybe not someone else. Like, is that just, is that just an assumption? Or is it? I would say from like the statistics, this is this, I wouldn't say this happens a lot. Yeah. But there are many cases where a woman will. steal a baby and then raises the baby as her own for whatever reason. And regardless, just from an investigatory standpoint, you still have to find her.

And then if you find her, you can kind of put, you know, put the pieces together if she did, in fact, keep Kevin or pass him along to another family. I think both are possible. But I hear you. Most of the time, it is going to be the offender who keeps the child. Well, also here's the thing. Sheila, this fake Sheila, appear to be pregnant. So the police don't know, was she really pregnant?

Or was she making herself look pregnant? So now she needs a baby. Yeah. Well, now, no, not even just less threatening. But also, is she pretending? We've seen these cases too, right? Where you're pretending to be pregnant. So now you need a baby because you're pretending to be pregnant.

Yeah. Yeah, it could be a couple things going on there. There's definitely more of the story, but it does make you wonder who out there knows this person, not only from that, from that area where they had these eyewitness testimonies that they were able to gather, but also, as you just mentioned, there's a real possibility that this person has a whole other life and was lying to people in her life so that hopefully if maybe someone starts to put the pieces together of, oh, yeah, I remember around this time, there was some suspicious circumstances surrounding so-and-so, they disappeared for a little while,

and then all of a sudden they had the baby. That's exactly why Nick Mack and the FBI and the police, are like, hey, we think that this could be solved. And they're saying specifically two people look out for these things. And that's the interesting thing because Sheila talked to so many people at that apartment complex. The investigators were able to develop, you know, a pretty reliable composite sketch based on multiple witness descriptions, which you don't usually have. But before we get into that stuff, which is very important because whoever's listening,

even if you're not in the California area, this Sheila woman could have lived anywhere, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, who knows, North Carolina. We don't know where she went. And it could be likely that she went to a completely different state to take this baby. And this was a whole plan. So stay tuned. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

Okay, we're back. So here's the description at the time of the abduction what Sheila apparently was, which was a white woman in her 20s, approximately five feet, two inches tall, approximately at a hundred feet, 130 pounds with frizzy or curly red or blonde hair. So she also had a really identifiable marking on the left hand. And I think this could be the thing that makes a difference. Yeah. So in the webbing between her thumb and index finger, witnesses described a small tattoo consisting of a circle with an X inside of it.

The woman also appeared to be pregnant, like I said. Now, investigators have never established whether she was actually pregnant or whether she intentionally created the appearance of being pregnant. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has studied more than 300 infant abduction cases. And Nick Mack says infant abductors have often been women of childbearing age who appear pregnant and may be attempting to replace a child loss through miscarriage, stillbirth, or another traumatic event.

I've even seen cases where the woman is trying to like hold on to her male partner. So she says she's pregnant, but she's not pregnant. And so she pretends to be pregnant, but obviously that's only going to last about nine months or so before the gig is up. So during that nine months, she figures out a way to procure an infant child. The one thing that stood out to me there, what you just described with her, and I'm a little surprised by this, is that you described her as a white woman. And if she was targeting Kevin because he was half Filipino, it does make me wonder if her partner is Filipino. Right? Yes, or a Filipino descent, yeah.

Something there where it would match because she's white, so she doesn't need a Filipino baby for her. She needs it for someone else. If that's what happened here, we don't know her mindset why she chose Kevin. That's just a theory they're going off of. But that's another layer that you could add to this where if you find a woman or you think of a woman who has these identifying marks, on top of that, they were dating someone in the 80s who was a Filipino descent. Now we're cooking with gas. Yeah, so obviously, like you said, this is a speculation.

Right. It's a hunch. It's a theory that investigators are going on based on what they know. And that's important to mention, though, too, like don't get honed in on that. Like if it doesn't check all those boxes, but you think of someone who could match, but then you go, ah, but they were dating a white guy. Can't be them. Don't do that. Because that's important what you just said.

It's a hunch. It's speculation. Don't get fixated on every single detail because some could be wrong. Yeah. And they don't know. It doesn't prove what motive. this Sheila woman to take Kevin, but investigators have long considered the possibility that she wanted an infant. She could present to other people as her own biological child. No suspect has ever been publicly identified. No one's been arrested or charged in connection with Kevin's disappearance. And despite the initial FBI investigation, and they got involved pretty quickly, the case eventually went cold. However, investigators have not concluded that Kevin was killed. They believe the nature of the abduction, the woman's apparent search. And for a particular type of baby, the time she spent establishing trust, her apparent pregnancy,

the elaborate plan used to separate Angelina from her child. That suggests that Kevin may have been taken by someone who intended to raise him. If this is what happened, Kevin may have grown up with no reason to question the identity that he was given. He may have been told he was born somewhere else, that he was adopted privately, that his birth certificate has been lost, or that unusual circumstances surrounded his birth. He may have been raised by the woman who called her Sheila, by her relatives, or by another couple entirely. He may not know his true date of birth. He may not know that his real parents never stopped searching for him. So obviously, the abduction devastated the Verville family. Kevin Sr. has spent years blaming himself for failing to

protect his family. Angelina reportedly cried for months, withdrew emotionally, and struggled profoundly with the loss of her baby. The pressure and grief affected the parents' marriage. They eventually divorced, but then they reconciled and remarried more than once before separating permanently. They later had two more children, including a daughter named Angelica Ramsey, who was born several years after Kevin was taken. Now, Angelica grew up knowing that she had an older brother somewhere, but not knowing whether he was alive, where he'd been raised, or whether he knew that she even existed. She also grew up seeing what Kevin's disappearance had done to her parents. So in approximately 2020, Angelica began pushing for renewed attention to the case.

She contacted investigators and eventually began working with NECMEC to bring Kevin's story back. So we have Angelica to thank for this renewed kind of push an effort. And her efforts helped to lead to a renewed campaign and the creation of an updated age progression image, which we will show you. So on June 10th, 2025, four days before Kevin's 45th birthday, Nekmec and the FBI held a news conference in Oceanside and released a new image depicting what Kevin might have looked like at age 45. Right now, Kevin would be 46 years old. So this image can't show exactly what he looks like.

Obviously, in age progression is an investigative tool created by forensic artists using childhood photographs, which we're not going to have a ton of Kevin because he was only 17 days old. Plus, they'll use family characteristics and then the normal effects. effects of aging because he was so young when he was taken, it's less likely that it'll be super, super accurate. No. And listen, let's just be honest. If we find Kevin, it's not going to be more than likely because of how he looks today compared to his baby photos.

Age progression's okay sometimes, but as you're kind of qualifying here, it's not our best chance. The best chance is going to be this person, Sheila, whoever her real name is. That's the real way to find Kevin. Or Kevin hearing this and being like, oh, hey. Something didn't add up or this sounds like my mom. There were weird things about my childhood and my mom has that tattoo. Yeah. Or my mom's best friend, Sandra, has that tattoo.

And yeah, it is kind of weird. Like, I don't really look like my parents or I've always felt something was off. Something doesn't make sense. The way they kind of kept me to themselves or didn't let me go to certain places or some of the stories they had or I've never met my biological grandparents, whatever the case may be. there might be something that spark something in him. Or he could have been told, hey, you were adopted, which as a kid, you just kind of accept that for many years. But when you get to be an adult, sometimes you're like, okay, I want to kind of know where

I come from. So give me some more information and the parents didn't have it. I wonder if they've checked genealogy. I wonder if they've done some IGG on this to see if maybe if they upload the parents' DNA, if they can maybe link it to someone because you never know. Kevin may have kids that may have uploaded their DNA. DNA to a site? Yeah, I would hope so.

So there's a lot of possibilities where you could find a distant relative of Kevin's new tree, his new family tree, where you're able to reverse engineer it from there. I mean, the FBI's involved. I'm sure they're already thinking this, but you never know. There's been stranger things that have happened where it's like, oh, wait, actually, we didn't think of that. Let's do it real quick and say we did. You know, and that could help solve it.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, you have a sister Angelica who could give her DNA because she shares his DNA, that she shares the same parents. So her DNA profile would be very similar to his. Could be Kevin. Could be his offspring. Could be his kids. Yeah.

Like did his kids ever do a 23 in me? Did Kevin himself ever do a 23 in me hoping to find relatives? Yeah. Exactly. I just did a 23 in me a little while ago. One of my investigators were like, hey, you got to do it. Really cool. Really cool stuff.

And I actually found some relatives that I didn't know about. My father left me when I was very young. That's a whole different can of worms. We have to crack open one day. But I found some people who are around that are closely related to me and I've never met them. So you never know. That is so funny. I did a 23 and me and opened up a fresh family scandal.

That's why we're traumatized. That caused ripple effects that somehow I was blamed for it, even though all I did was do it. And then somebody contacted me. And then I talked to my mom and I'm like, hey, did you know this about. I'm surprised you did it. I'm surprised you did it because you seem like the, well, I think we've talked about it. I feel like you wouldn't do it because you were afraid they were going to steal your DNA. I wasn't, and then I realized they're going to steal my DNA no matter what.

If they really need it, they're going to get it. We're all screwed anyways. It's kind of like the world's burning down, so let's just do it all and dance. I mean, they got cameras tracking our license plates everywhere we drive at this point. If they want me, they're going to get me. We got to actually have a, we got to do a CWN one day on that, but it was, it's really cool. If you guys haven't done it and you're not opposed to doing it, you should definitely check it out. Any company, we're not endorsing a specific company, but.

I did 23 and me as well. And I found that I was... I kind of wish I hadn't, though, because like I said, family scandal. Yeah, you're going to find things you don't want to find, but I also found out where in Ireland and Scotland I'm from. I also found out that I'm like one or two percent Native American, which is crazy. But no, that's a whole different story for a different day. Obviously, I want to stay focused on Kevin and his family.

We have more to cover. Let's take our last break. We'll be right back. So at this point, the hope is that Kevin himself, someone who knows him or someone who remembers the sudden appearance of a newborn in a family during the summer of 1980 will recognize something. Investigators are asking people to think back to that time. Did a woman you knew appear pregnant in 1980 but never seemed to receive prenatal care? You know, like this is, I can't remember the exact case that I'm thinking of, but I feel like we've talked about it, but a woman

was pretending to be pregnant. And then her friends were like, it was weird because she said she was pregnant but then there was all of these wasn't it the the case where it was like um an older woman and remember it was her daughter and her daughter went missing and then it ended up being the older the mother and her boyfriend who who killed the daughter i'm darn a blank right now i can't i am too because there's just been a lot going on this week but it's always the friends of the woman who are like yeah that woman says she was pregnant but like like that woman said she was pregnant but like Like nothing else made sense. Yeah.

But maybe once Kevin showed up, they're like, oh. Yeah. And then they were like, oh, maybe. But if you thought it was kind of weird, you know, because you have to understand, the Sheila person in order to do what she did in California would have had to have been there for at least like a week or so, a week or a couple weeks, canvassing the neighborhood, talking to people gaining trust. So did this woman disappear randomly for a few weeks when she said she was pregnant and then

come back with a baby? all of a sudden out of nowhere and then had some excuse about how she delivered in a different hospital in different state. Did this woman appear to have a baby that was partially Filipino? Did she provide inconsistent explanations about where the child had been born or who the father was? Did she live in or travel through Southern California, particularly Oceanside, Camp Pendleton, or San Diego County area? Did she have frizzy red or a blonde hair in a small circle and X tattoo between the thumb and index finger of left hand. Even if that woman, Sheila, is no longer alive. Other members of the family may know something. There may be old photographs showing Kevin as an infant. There may be paperwork with

conflicting birth dates. There may be relatives who have quietly suspected for decades that the story surrounding a child's arrival in the family did not make sense. And there's also a possibility that Kevin himself will see this story. So Kevin, investigators believe that you may have lived your entire life without knowing that you were abducted. Your name at birth was Kevin Art Verville Jr. You were born on June 14th, 1980. You were taken from your mother in Oceanside, California when you were only 17 days old. Your father, your mother, your brother, and your sister have never forgotten you. You were not abandoned. You were not willingly given away. You were loved and your family has been searching for you for more than four decades.

Questioning your identity would not require you to immediately reject the family or the life that you have known. It would simply allow you to learn the truth about where your life began DNA testing may also be capable of providing answers even if the documents associated with your identity appear legitimate. So what they're saying is like if you think, if you're hearing this and you think you are Kevin, it doesn't mean that you have to say, oh, my whole life was a lie. It means that you have a whole other family out there that's been looking for you and a whole other story that that lives parallel with your current life that you may want to know. And so even if you just suspect it to you, come forward. Do a quick DNA test, quick mouth swab, nothing crazy,

and rule yourself out because the FBI continues to offer a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the location of Kevin Verville Jr. and the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for his abduction. Now, I have to say, if this woman, Sheila is still alive, and if she is Kevin's mother, talking about the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the abduction might not be the best way to get Kevin to come out. No, it's fair. That's fair. So, because if he is alive and she did raise him and she raised him lovingly and was a good

mother, he may not, he may be conflicted. Yeah. I don't know, man. I don't know. I think everyone's different. Maybe Kevin should make a deal that maybe that doesn't happen, you know. I don't know if that's possible. I don't know if he can make that deal, to be honest with you.

If he comes forward, there's, he doesn't have, I'm just being honest here. I got to be truthful. He doesn't have that choice. But maybe he can talk to the parent, like his biological parents. He could talk to them and say, hey. But it's a federal crime. It's a federal crime. I know. I know. I just don't think it's the most productive way because he could have had a good life. Because she could have been a good mother. We don't know.

Here's the thing. She stole him. I know. And I hope for Kevin's sake that she did give him a great life and that he's out there thriving, doing well, unaware of what happened. That's the best case for him. But even if that were the case, and we all hope that it is, she took everything from Kevin's parents. And she has to pay for that. She has to be held accountable. Imagine if that happened to you or I.

There's no world where I'm going to go, well, at least she raised them right. So we need to find out what happened. And I agree, but it's just not. I'm with you. You're being real about it. If he was loved, he might not be like, I want to see my mother thrown in prison now. He might not want to come forward. And I can understand because he's been raised that way.

I mean, in a way, he's been manipulative. You're right. That's, that's all he knows. And so if he feels that way, that's perfectly fine. He's well within his right. But if he is listening,

Kevin, there's a whole community, a whole other family out there that wants to know you. And we're all rooting for everybody involved. We're hoping that there's a happy ending to the story. And I hope, I would love to hear how you guys feel about

this type of crime weekly news and using it as a conduit as almost like a be on the lookout, where neck. is using this new innovative approach to elicit the help of true crime podcasters to get these stories out there. Angeline Hartman from NeckMek reached out to us and you may see this story on other podcasts. I haven't seen it yet.

It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But that's a good thing. We should not be gatekeeping. We don't want to be the first or the only. We want everybody to cover the story so that it becomes a national headline and maybe mainstream media picks it up because now we're all talking about it. So this is a great thing. This is the difference between some of the negative

stigmas that you see around true crime and what we can do with it in a positive way because true crime podcasting and YouTube or whatever, it's massive. It's massive. And we have the ability to mold what true crime is in the future. And this is how we do it because the great ending here is we find Kevin. Everything gets handled.

He's reunited with his family. And we get to update you guys. And you're part of the reason that it was solved. That to me, It gives me a lot of hope. And I get excited about it because that's my goal with true crime is to have it be something where cases that couldn't be solved before are now being solved because of the reach that we have. Yes. So here's how you can act.

Anyone with information about Kevin, the woman known as Sheila or a child who unexpectedly appeared in someone's life during the summer of 1980, is asked to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-the-Lost. that's 1-800-843-5678. Information can also be reported to the FBI at 1-800. Call FBI. That's 1-800-225-5-3-24. There may also be a tip submitted through the FBI's online tip portal. Basically, Kevin's family doesn't know where he is. He could be living in California. He could be living somewhere else in the United States or another country entirely. But after more than 46 years, they are still waiting for the chance to tell. him that they wanted him to know since the day he was taken that they didn't stop looking and he was never forgotten. So thank you all for listening. Thank you all for being here with us. If you know something, say something. We will put all of the numbers and the ways you can submit tips in the description box. Thank you so much. And until next time, okay, you got to call us out here. You try. Guys, we'll be back later this week with a new episode. Until then, everyone stays safe. A new series, by the way.

Yeah, a completely new case, a new series. This is why I do the outro, right? You do our intros and I do the outro's, but we love you guys. We'll see you later this week. Have good night. Bye.