Medieval Times Auditor Has Disappeared Twice Before

On three different occasions in the 1980s, Joseph Patrick Cairns disappeared suddenly and without explanation, leaving his wife and four children.

In 1981, he left the day after Thanksgiving.

In 1984, he left 2 days after Christmas.

And this week, Cairns, 57, of Placentia has disappeared once more--on Sunday, 9 days before Valentine’s Day. This time, police are searching for him because $100,000 is missing from the Medieval Times dinner theater in Buena Park, where Cairns was the night auditor.

Buena Park police said Friday that they are seeking information from anyone who may have seen Cairns after 3:30 a.m. Monday, when another employee at Medieval Times last saw him. A warrant has been issued for his arrest on suspicion of grand theft.

“We have no concrete leads as yet,” said Buena Park Police Detective Henry Dock late Friday afternoon.

Buena Park officers had previously said they had asked Las Vegas police to help look for Cairns. He is believed to be an avid gambler, police said, and he went to Las Vegas in 1985, when his wife listed him as a missing person.

As in his previous disappearances, Cairns’ departure this week came without warning, officials said. He went to his night job Sunday night, his wife told police, and she has not seen or heard from him since.

Cairns’ wife, Dolores, could not be reached for comment Friday, but in court documents on file at Orange County Superior Court, she has said her husband left without notice twice before.

Dolores Cairns filed a petition for legal separation in December, 1981, and again in January, 1985, after her husband unexpectedly left each time. In both court documents, she said: “I feel that I must take this action to obtain a legal separation in order to protect myself and our community assets. If he reveals himself, and he has a satisfactory reason for his absence, this action can be dismissed.”

Since Cairns returned home in both 1981 and 1985, the couple did not divorce, according to Buena Park police. “He is still married to his wife of 37 years, according to what we know,” Detective Dock said on Friday. Dock said Cairns’ wife reported him as a missing person in 1985, but that he had no record of her doing so in 1981.

“We have no record of his (Cairns) ever having any criminal arrests or outstanding warrants until we issued our own warrant for his arrest,” Dock added.

The court documents about Cairns’ previous disappearances from his home have striking similarities.

In her 1981 petition for legal separation, Dolores Cairns said: “ . . . My husband of almost 30 years and the father of our four children left the family house on the morning of Friday, Nov. 27, 1981, and has not been seen since. We had Thanksgiving dinner the day before, and neither myself nor other family members have any idea where he can be found.”

In her 1985 petition for legal separation, Dolores Cairns said: “ . . . My husband of more than 32 years and the father of our four children left the family house on the morning of Dec. 27, 1984, and has not been seen since. We had Christmas dinner just two days before, and neither myself nor other family members have any idea where he can be found.”

Information was not available Friday about how long Cairns was missing in his 1981 and 1984 disappearances.

But in the 1981 court document, Dolores Cairns said her husband’s employer, Cortes Equipment Servicing Co. of Long Beach, was “very concerned as to his whereabouts.” The court document added: “The company is now having an audit of its accounts because Joseph had access to company funds, but the results are unknown at this time.” The document was filed Dec. 15, 1981. Current telephone records have no listing for a Cortes Equipment Servicing Co. in Long Beach, and The Times could not locate anyone from that company to determine the results of the alleged 1981 audit after Cairns’ disappeared.

The 1981 court document said that Cairns was a vice president of the Cortes company. In that document, Dolores Cairns said her husband had “a very responsible job (and) was very conscientious. . . . “

In a court document filed Jan. 22, 1985, Dolores Cairns had a similar account of her husband and his job at that time, which she did not identify. The 1985 court document said: “He has a very responsible job, has been very conscientious, and the employer is very concerned as to his whereabouts.” The document did not say who employed Cairns when he disappeared in 1984.

Cairns’ residence is a 2-story house on Shaver Way in Placentia, a neighborhood of comfortable, quarter-million-dollar homes. A family member declined to be interviewed on Friday.

Across the street, a neighbor who asked that his name not be used, said that Cairns had lived at the residence since at least 1968. “He’s got a job, a home with equity; it doesn’t make sense,” the neighbor said. “I just hope he’s not laying in a ditch somewhere.”

The neighbor described Cairns as “congenial and outgoing.” He said he had no knowledge of Cairns’ two previous disappearances.

Medieval Times has announced that it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to Cairns’ arrest.

Cairns was not well known among the other employees at Medieval Times because the accountant usually came to the office just as everyone else was leaving, said Mary Anne Powell, the company’s public relations manager.

“He was a night auditor and came in at 11 (p.m.), after the show activities had dissipated,” she said. “He didn’t cross paths with many people.”

During his nearly 2 years at Medieval Times, Cairns was “a terrific employee. He was thorough and on time. Everything was done to our satisfaction,” Powell added.

When he was hired, Cairns’ background apparently was reviewed by John Bray, the accounting manager at the time, Powell said. Bray is no longer with the theater-restaurant and Powell did not know where he could be reached.

Powell said she has since learned that in Cairns’ employment history, he “went from being a vice president of a company to an accountant,” but she did not know the circumstances.

Powell said the company has insurance to cover part of a possible loss of the missing $100,000, but she declined to specify how much would be covered. If the $100,000 does remain lost, she said, it will not jeopardize the restaurant.

Since Medieval Times opened in June, 1986, the restaurant and entertainment venture has served 1 1/2 million people, Powell said, primarily nearby residents, and the tourist trade is expected to grow. The dinner theater can seat 1,134 for each show, and the average attendance is 989 a show, she said, adding:

“We’re here to stay.”

Staff writer Lonn Johnston contributed to this story.