My name is Jennifer Fagan and my brother Casey Fagan has been missing since Tuesday 10/7/25 after having a single vehicle rollover car accident around midnight on a dangerous stretch of Hwy 74 near Palm Desert. He was last seen with a head injury and barefoot leaving the side of the road, and going down a trail into a treacherous desert region. He has not been seen since. Three days later, the Riverside County Sheriff Office Investigations Dept began conducting searches, including by ground and air and has now stopped all future search efforts as of 10/14/25. Not having any other recourse, our family has now hired a Missing Person Private Investigator who specializes in Search and Rescue. His fee is $1250 per day and we are seeking help to finance these services.

Some more details of his disappearance are as follows:

Casey was on his way home from San Diego to La Quinta around 12:44 am 10/8/25 and hit the side of a mountain going around a curve on Hwy 74 near Coachella Valley Vista Point near mile marker 88.22 and overturned the car. Witnesses at the scene reported that he appeared to have a head injury and injuries to his feet, possibly from glass. He left the scene and was last seen running up the hill westbound on hwy 74 and disappeared down a trail off the westbound side of the road and has not been seen since. He was last seen having only shorts on, no shirt and was barefoot. The reporting CHP, along with CalFire, searched for him that night but could not find him. The CHP then had his car towed with his keys, wallet (which included his ID) and cell phone in it. (It is important to note that nobody was notified of this accident and subsequent disappearance, even though his ID and Cell Phone were in the car. We did not find out about his car crash until 10/10/25)

Casey was reported missing to the Riverside County Sheriff Office (RSO) by his girlfriend at around 11:00 am on 10/8/25. It appears that the Deputy who took the report did not take it seriously, did not make any inquiries into his whereabouts, left off duty for 4 days and did not pass the case onto anyone else. My family was not made aware of his disappearance until Thursday afternoon 10/9/25 when his girlfriend was able to get in contact with us. Since that time, I was on the phone constantly to RSO trying to get someone to search for Casey and ping his phone and look at that dangerous stretch of HWY 74. I finally convinced a Deputy at RSO on Friday 10/10/25 of the concerning circumstances of his disappearance and he was able to get an investigation team on his case. That is when they finally learned of the accident that occurred on the early morning of 10/8/25 and learned of the witnesses' account of his last known whereabouts. They did a helicopter search of the area that Friday night. They then deployed a search party on Saturday morning 10/11/25. This included about 15 people on the ground and 3 cadaver dogs. I was told that bloodhounds were not an option any longer as too many days had passed. The search party covered several miles and concluded that afternoon without finding him or any clues. It is important to note that the terrain out there is incredibly treacherous - it is rocky with steep inclines and covered with cholla plants - making it difficult and dangerous for anyone other than skilled professionals to search. On Tuesday 10/14/25, RSO conducted a drone search and covered a vast area. They were unable to find him or any clue to his whereabouts. The Sergeant at RSO confirmed they will not be conducting any more searches and will only be following up on leads/tips from now on.

I am appreciative of the efforts that RSO Investigations put into the search efforts after learning about his accident, but what concerns me the most is those first 3 critical days that lapsed without anyone searching for him. This was a person with a head injury that had wandered off into an unforgiving desert landscape in the middle of the night with no shirt, shoes, wallet or cell phone.

Casey's family, girlfriend and friends are all incredibly worried and hoping for his safe return. The Riveside County Sheriff Office has ended their search efforts and our family can't just sit by knowing that he could still be out there somewhere. Our only option is for private hire at this point and we cant give up on Casey. We are desperate to find him or some clue to his whereabouts. Any help that anyone can provide to help finance our search efforts would be appreciated beyond words. Even if you don't have the means to donate, if you could forward this on to help spread the word it would help tremendously as well.

Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts,

The Fagan family