USA Unsolved 17

“As of 2025, Hou was 74 years old, semi-retired, and living with his wife in Rancho Cucamonga, a city a little west of San Bernardino. In March of 2025, Hou's son Wen had gone to visit his parents and the entire family had gone on a family fishing trip at the San Pedro Pier. After his son returned home, things began to change.”

“An important piece of information that will come up later is the fact that Wen, his son, is a very successful cryptocurrency investor. An article from 2021 stated that he purchased a $9.7 million home, so I guess he is or at least was pretty successful in his trade.”

“But Hou was not home. In fact, the house was nearly empty. Personal items, furniture, even the kitchen utensil drawers had been emptied out. The property was almost entirely cleaned out. Someone had left paint buckets and parts of the walls had random sloppy paint jobs, as if done in a hurry.”

“That Hou, or whoever was using his phone, had purchased cryptocurrency and gold bars worth over a million dollars. According to Wen, quote, he has never bought gold in his life. He's not an online savvy person, unquote. I don't know if being tech-savvy would have made a difference in Hou's case, though, because if he was kidnapped, say, held at gunpoint, or the lives of his family members were threatened, he would probably have given anything to save his and their lives.”

“The once-involved and warm father he recognized became aloof and unusually detached. Wen had tried to convince his father to come visit him and his family, as it was more difficult for him to travel as he had young kids. His father, though, would respond in ways that seemed strange, or at least unlike him. Basically, he found excuses to not get on the phone, excuses to not visit his son.”

“As for Wen, he has his suspicions set on a few contractors that worked at his parents' home earlier that year. I don't like jumping to conclusions, but this is also not unheard of. People come and do work at your house. Maybe they see that you are well off. Maybe they found out his son is basically a crypto guru and heard about his multimillion dollar home purchase.”

“As of today, Wen has offered a reward of up to $250,000 to any leads that either bring his father home safe and sound or identification, arrest, and conviction of those who took his father, destroyed his home, stole his life savings, and tore a family apart. I will continue to monitor this case as it progresses, and although we are already a year in, I won't lose hope.”