Missing USC student may have been seen

A 26-year-old USC medical student who went missing in August might have been spotted on a Los Angeles bus last week, according to several surveillance images shown by a private investigator.

Derek Seehausen, a Los Angeles resident, was last seen shortly after midnight on Aug. 6 walking in the 2000 block of Alvarado Street in the Echo Park area, according to his family and private investigator Thomas Martin.

The Los Angeles Police Department initially reported Seehausen was last seen in Glendale, but that information has since been corrected.

Martin said at 10:34 p.m. on Aug. 5, Seehausen withdrew $200 from an ATM and bought milk and cereal from a Vons near his apartment in the 1000 block of Bonnie Brae Street in the Echo Park/Westlake area.

At 11:54 p.m., he made a payment of $2,999 over his iPhone to a friend to whom he owed money, just minutes before his final confirmed sighting, Martin said.

At a press conference on Friday, the private investigator showed three surveillance photos taken Sept. 5 that show a man resembling Seehausen riding a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles. The man who looks like Seehausen was first spotted by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies who were searching for a sexual-assault suspect who was groping women, Martin said.

Jean Gadra, Seehausen’s mother, was also at the press conference and said a void has been left in her family since her son’s disappearance.

She said she spoke with him about his upcoming graduation just days before he went missing. Seehausen was also described by his mother as someone who was very athletic and enjoyed the outdoors.

“We don’t understand this at all,” said Gadra, who was making her first public appearance since her son disappeared. “If you took 1,000 people, Derek would be the last person in line to do this.”

Shuhan He, a friend and classmate, said he had spoken to Seehausen just days before he went missing and they were making plans for the weekend.

Martin said Seehausen may have also been spotted as recently as Sept. 10 walking the Pacific Coast Highway in Solana Beach.

The person who provided the tip reported seeing the individual shuffling as he walked, which could be attributed to a foot condition Seehausen suffers from, Martin said.

Seehausen is 6 feet tall and weighs about 180 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a light-colored T-shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact Los Angeles Police Department’s Adult Missing Persons Unit at (213) 996-1800.