Stephan Doyle

Herhold: Beloved man's disappearance baffles Sunol
By Scott Herhold
Mercury News
Article Launched: 12/13/2007 01:35:05 AM PST

As an unincorporated town that once elected a dog named Bosco as mayor, Sunol departs from the standard in the Bay Area. It's a place where people know one another, a crossroads of the unorthodox and a spot that commands allegiance.

That might be why most people think something very bad - or very strange - happened to Stephan Doyle, a 47-year-old resident who disappeared two weeks ago.

A slender, smiling man with a ruddy complexion and jug ears, the 5-foot-11-inch Doyle was co-director of the Sunol Repertory Theater, president of the Kilkare Woods Association, a Sunday school teacher at the Little Brown Church and an organizer of the town's Christmas party.

So when he went missing after being seen collecting Christmas decorations at the Hayward company owned by his partner, his friends could not parse the event.

"This is not like Steve," said Virginia McCullough, a local resident and journalist. "He might disappear for a day or two gambling, but he's always right home. He has a sense of commitment to the community."

His longtime partner, Neil Davies, told me that Doyle even missed calling his mother on her birthday Monday - something he never did.

"If he owed somebody money or somebody was angry at him, it would seem to make sense," Davies said. "But right now we're just picking at straws."

Last sighting

Doyle was last seen about midnight Nov. 29 - a Thursday edging into a Friday - at Zentek Scientific, near Industrial Parkway and Arf Avenue in Hayward, where he worked for Davies as a bookkeeper. His friends say he was gathering town Christmas decorations that were stored at Zentek, 15 miles from Sunol.

It would seem an unlikely time to disappear. Over the previous week, Doyle proudly had shown friends his newly received red Saab, which he left behind the locked gate at the rear of Zentek. Inside the building, he left his beloved Yorkie, Komet, and Davies' golden Lab, Luke - something his partner says he would have done only if he meant to return quickly.

In Sunol, people who know Doyle say he was eager to buy a car for Davies as a Christmas surprise - and he was known to have a couple thousand dollars in cash with him. This has led some residents to speculate that his vanishing was tied to a car deal gone sour.

Foul play?

A spokesman for the Hayward Police Department said initially that the disappearance was being treated only as a missing-persons case, and that unless there was evidence of foul play, it would not merit much in police resources. Davies, however, says he has taken copies of Doyle's bank statement to police.

That leaves people befuddled in Sunol, where Doyle was remembered in a candlelight vigil Sunday as a kind, creative man who was eagerly organizing the Christmas party that weekend, down to the little wooden Santa Clauses festooning downtown.

"Steve was almost like part of my family," said Pat Stillman, who lives near Doyle. "He was always there if anyone needed any help. He went way beyond the call of duty."

This being Sunol, psychics have been summoned. One resident with experience in psychic phenomenon, DaEl Walker, says he's had the impression that Doyle is injured and "out of his body." But he freely says that's only a rough impression.

"He was a person who liked to have a lot of fun, but he didn't play games," Walker said."Bottom line: He's not here. And that's not his nature."

Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5877.