S. County Chiropractor Suddenly Vanishes

Police are investigating the disappearance of a Capistrano Beach chiropractor who was last seen in his office Dec. 2.

In the weeks leading to his disappearance, Steven Sales, 59, had told his ex-wife and his office manager that he had been depressed about failing health and failing business, according to the police report of the incident.

Then at about noon on Dec. 2, Sales told Vicki Crosby, the office manager, to reschedule his afternoon patients to the following day and close the office. That afternoon, his 1989 Corvette was missing from the office parking lot and Sales was gone, said San Clemente Sgt. Jim Thomas, reading from the report.

Police have sent out a missing persons bulletin to law enforcement agencies nationwide, Thomas said.

Sales left behind his practice, which has been in Capistrano Beach for 18 years, a Rolls-Royce, a home in San Clemente and his two teen-age children.

Sales’ former wife, Rita Sales, 45, of San Juan Capistrano, has been given temporary control of the practice by Orange County Superior Court. But the office has not been open for business since Sales disappeared.

“The business is closed, but at this point I am desperately waiting for him to return,” Rita Sales said. “He loves his kids so much; he would never leave without telling them first.”

Rita Sales said she suspects foul play because he never drove the Corvette and thinks that he may have been forced to take it.

Police said they are looking into all possibilities and have listed him as a missing person.

In early 1990, failing health had forced Sales to close his office for six months while he underwent hospitalization in La Jolla for treatment of an intestinal ailment, according to friends and family.