People Magazine Investigates on ID: Where was Kevin Collins last seen?

Kevin Collins, a 10-year-old San Francisco resident, was reported missing in February, 1984.

After getting free from his basketball practice, Collins, instead of going home with his teammates, decided to take the city bus home. He was last seen waiting at the bus stop and conversing with a man with a black dog. Collins has never been seen since.

The 10-year-old garnered headlines for his bizarre disappearance and left the community absolutely terrified. In the police's initial investigation into the case, no one was convicted due to lack of evidence and witness testimonies. The few suspects the police had regarding the case were let go after no connections were found between them and Collins.

In 2013, almost three decades after Kevin Collins' disappearance, the cold case unit of the San Francisco Police Department reopened the case, launched an investigation and made major breakthroughs that changed its trajectory.

Investigation Discovery's People Magazine Investigates will review this bizarre case and provide never-before-heard details about the case in their upcoming re-air of the Season 4 episode titled Without a Trace. The synopsis of the episode, as per Rotten Tomatoes, reads:

"In San Francisco, Kevin Collins, 10, disappears on his way home, galvanizing the residents to find him; with few leads to go on, Kevin's case sheds light on hundreds of other children who have vanished without a trace in the United States."

The episode airs on ID on July 10, 2023, at 7 pm ET.

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Wayne Jackson is only viable suspect in Kevin Collins disappearance

Wayne Jackson's mugshot in 1982 (Image via San Francisco Police Department)

In the 2013 investigation launched by the San Francisco Police Department, it was found that the person Kevin Collins was last seen talking to at the bus stop outside his basketball practice was none other than Wayne Jackson, a neighbor of Collins' who was shockingly revealed to have been a convicted pedophile.

On digging into Jackson's criminal background, the police found that he had been sentenced to six months in jail just two years before Kevin Collins' disappearance, for reportedly sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy in a nearby neighborhood.

It was also revealed that Jackson had fled Canada five years ago, as he was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two 13-year-old boys in his community.

The reason that this information did not come to light in 1984 was that Jackson had reportedly gone under five different aliases, making it almost impossible for the police to dig up his true history.

With all the witness testimonies and facts pointing towards Wayne Jackson, the police said that Kevin Collins was most likely been abducted by Jackson. However, the police were not able to convict Jackson of the crime due to his death in 2008 due to natural causes.

It's because of this non-conviction that the Collins family never got closure as to what happened to Kevin Collins. The case continues to be labeled as a cold case, and the search for Collins continues.

Kevin's sister Michelle Collins commented on Jackson's non-conviction in an interview with People magazine and said:

"We know it’s not going to be good, but we would like some answers."

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Watch People Magazine Investigates on July 10, 2023, at 7 pm ET, exclusively on Investigation Discovery.