Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140144
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"His bottom lip started to tremble, and his eyes welled up with tears. He said, 'Is that my mother?'" Joy Sylvester Johnson said.
Knuth was reported missing Nov. 30, two days after his parents watched him leave their house near Silver Spring, Md.
Roanoke County police and Maryland detectives announced Monday that they had found Knuth's car on U.S. 220. Television news broadcast Knuth's picture. Soon after, Knuth had his identity back - after residents of the Rescue Mission of Roanoke recognized him as the man they had known only as "John."
Knuth had been taken to the Rescue Mission on Dec. 5, suffering from amnesia, after wandering into a motel on 220.
Johnson, director of development for the Rescue Mission, stayed up after the news broadcast Monday night, talking with Knuth and waiting for his parents to arrive from Maryland.
Slowly, Johnson said, Knuth recalled the names of his three sisters and one brother, the speech he had given to church members a few weeks earlier, and what happened the night he left his parents' home.
Roanoke County Detective Rick Moorer said Tuesday that all Knuth could remember about that night was stopping to assist a stranded motorist. The driver - Knuth wasn't sure if it was a man or woman - asked Knuth to take him or her to pick up some gasoline.
After that, Knuth said he remembers nothing until Dec. 5, when he walked into the Parkway Motel on 220.
Paramedics arrived to examine him, and although Knuth complained of a headache, medics couldn't find any cuts or bumps that might have indicated a cause for amnesia. Police took him to the mission, where he'd been waiting for answers ever since.
Moorer said one of two things might have happened to Knuth during his weeklong absence: He may have seen or done something so traumatic that his brain blocked it out, or he could have been given some kind of drug by the motorist he picked up.
Knuth's car was not harmed in any way, Moorer said. The keys were in the glove compartment, some jewelry was still in the trunk, and a theft-prevention device was in place around the steering wheel.
Someone may have traveled in the car with Knuth, Moorer said, because some of the possessions found there did not belong to Knuth.
But, Moorer said, what's most important is that Knuth was found.
"It is a strange story," Johnson said, "and sort of beautiful. Watching him find himself again was like somebody finding a treasure."
by CNB