El Dorado County man missing since early November
By Cathy Locke and Bill Lindelof, Sacramento Bee
David Clement spent the past two years pursuing his dream of creating a computer game for market and was within days of sending it out for testing when he went missing from his Camino home.
John Clement said it appears his 30-year-old son had been on the computer working on graphic designs in the early morning of Nov. 6. He had told his father the night before that he planned to run some errands in the morning and the two talked about getting together later in the day.
But family and friends have not heard from him since then.
John Clement, a former pastor at Camino Community Church, thinks his son went out for a run. He fears that he may have been injured, or possibly attacked by a mountain lion sighted in the area in recent weeks.
When he was unable to reach his son by phone, John Clement went to the house. His son’s motorcycle was there, but the weather was bad so his father figured he had gone somewhere with friends.
After a couple more days passed, John Clement again went to the Camino house David shared with a roommate. The roommate hadn’t seen David either but assumed they had just been missing one another.
David Clement’s new running shoes and a jacket were gone, along with a pistol he usually carried as protection against mountain lions when he ran in the woods. His cellphone and wallet were still at the house.
John Clement tracked his son’s computer activities up to about 5am Nov. 6. “I was over here within five hours of him getting up,” he said.
El Dorado County sheriff’s officials say there is no evidence of foul play.
“We are investigating it as a missing person case,” sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Jim Byers said Monday. “We had our search and rescue unit go up last week with cadaver dogs and do an extensive search of the area. We were unable to find anything.”
John Clement said his son spent two years in the Army and was discharged in 2001. He pursued acting for a time, serving as an extra in movies, before taking an IT job with the California Highway Patrol – a position he left two years ago.
David Clement had been depressed for a time as he struggled to pay bills while developing the computer game, “but he had worked through that,” his father said.
Friend Marty Crossley Jr. of Rancho Cordova said he has known David for about six years and that it is not uncommon for gamers to stay at each others homes when they play into the night.
Crossley said David Clement discussed his game with friends, bouncing ideas off them, and Crossley was among those preparing to “beta test” the game, to identify any flaws and make sure it worked as intended.
Friends say they don’t think Clement was suicidal or that he would intentionally go off for an extended period without notifying family.
“Because it’s been such a long time and he didn’t contact anyone — with the (Thanksgiving) holiday, that’s unlikely,” said friend Erica Scoggins.
Family and friends, on Thanksgiving Day and again on Saturday, searched the area around Camino where David Clement typically ran. John Clement said a search of a broader area is tentatively scheduled for this coming weekend.
Anyone with information regarding David Clement’s whereabouts is asked to call the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center at (530) 621.6600. Friends also have set up of a Facebook page to assist in the search: www.facebook.com/HelpFindDavidClement.