Cold case Files: Almost 27 years after his disappearance, Cherokee County man's fate remains a mystery

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Inocente Richmond Yanez

In the small town of Tahlequah, 26-year-old Inocente Richmond Yanez (known as Shawn to everyone who cared about him) lived a simple life with his mother in a home on May Avenue.

Tall and slender at 6'2" and 180 pounds, with light brown hair, brown eyes, and a noticeable speech impediment, Shawn was a biracial man of Hispanic and Native American heritage. Surgical scars marked both his wrists, and he sometimes went by the last names Chavez or Gomez.

On the evening of January 5, 1999, Shawn disappeared without a trace.His mother came home from her work shift to find the lights on, the television still playing, and a few empty beer cans in the sink. Everything appeared normal...except Shawn was gone. He had left behind his coat, his cigarettes, and all his personal belongings, as if he had only stepped out for a moment.

Family members recalled that Shawn had mentioned a friend was supposed to pick him up that day for a ride somewhere. No one knew who the friend was or where they were going. After that, nothing. No phone calls, no sightings, no sign of Shawn ever again.Those who knew him best say this made no sense.

Shawn was a devoted father to his six-year-old son and would never have abandoned the boy willingly. He wasn't the kind of person to just walk away from his life without a word.At the time, Shawn had been involved with drugs, which raised questions about possible debts or trouble. His mother insisted that if he had owed anyone money, she would have helped him settle it.

Whatever struggles he faced, she believed, were not enough to make him vanish forever.The circumstances were suspicious from the start. There was no sign of a struggle at the house, yet nothing about the disappearance fit Shawn's character. Local police and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation classified him as endangered missing and have investigated ever since.

More than 26 years have passed. Tips have come and gone, searches have turned up empty, and the trail has long since gone cold. His family still waits for answers, holding onto the hope that someone, somewhere, knows what happened that winter night in 1999.Shawn Yanez would be 53 years old today.

His case remains unsolved.

If you have any information about his disappearance, contact the Tahlequah Police Department at 918-456-8801 or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at 800-522-8017. Even the smallest detail could finally bring a family the closure they deserve.