Overview

Full name: John Howard Mackirdy

Age at disappearance: 22 years old

Date last seen: December 15, 1978

Last known location: San Francisco, California, with historical reporting identifying the South of Market/Folsom Street area

City and county: San Francisco, San Francisco County, California

Case classification: Missing person

Current status: Unresolved; remains publicly listed as missing

Date of birth: July 6, 1956

Investigating agency: San Francisco Police Department

California DOJ case number: 210011348

NamUs reference: MP123764

Main circumstances: Mackirdy disappeared while visiting friends in San Francisco. A database account states that he intended to meet an unidentified man for dinner and did not return to his friends’ residence.

Detailed Case Breakdown

John Howard Mackirdy: The Unsolved 1978 Disappearance of a 22-Year-Old Man in San Francisco, California

On December 15, 1978, 22-year-old John Howard Mackirdy disappeared while visiting San Francisco, California. More than four decades later, the circumstances surrounding his disappearance remain unresolved, and publicly available records provide few definitive answers about what happened to him.

Historical reporting reveals that Mackirdy’s family was deeply concerned about his safety. His belongings and unopened Christmas presents had been left behind, and his relatives hired a private investigator to help locate him. A missing-person database account also describes a planned dinner meeting with an unidentified man on the evening Mackirdy vanished.

Despite these details, no publicly verified evidence establishes that Mackirdy was murdered, abducted, or died. His case continues to be documented as a missing-person investigation.

Case Summary

Full name: John Howard Mackirdy

Age at disappearance: 22 years old

Date last seen: December 15, 1978

Last known location: San Francisco, California, with historical reporting identifying the South of Market/Folsom Street area

City and county: San Francisco, San Francisco County, California

Case classification: Missing person

Current status: Unresolved; remains publicly listed as missing

Date of birth: July 6, 1956

Investigating agency: San Francisco Police Department

California DOJ case number: 210011348

NamUs reference: MP123764

Main circumstances: Mackirdy disappeared while visiting friends in San Francisco. A database account states that he intended to meet an unidentified man for dinner and did not return to his friends’ residence.

Sources: California Department of Justice, The Charley Project, and NamUs information reproduced by Websleuths.

Background: Who Was John Howard Mackirdy?

John Howard Mackirdy was born on July 6, 1956. At the time of his disappearance, he was 22 years old, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed around 135 pounds. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and a distinctive scar beneath his chin.

According to his missing-person profile, Mackirdy was wearing a blue nylon jacket with a fur collar, a white T-shirt, jeans, and black boots when he disappeared.John Howard Mackirdy, pictured around the time of his disappearance. Historical photographs are available through his missing-person records.

Relatively little verified information about Mackirdy’s upbringing, occupation, education, or permanent residence has been made publicly available.

However, an important contemporary account appeared in the January 10–31, 1979, issue of The Gay Crusader, a San Francisco publication. The article described Mackirdy as a young man visiting San Francisco who had been staying in the Castro neighborhood.

The same report indicated that he was familiar with the city’s South of Market/Folsom area, which was known for its nightlife and social communities.

This historical reporting offers insight into the places Mackirdy visited before his disappearance, but it does not establish his movements during the final hours before he went missing.

Source: The Gay Crusader, January 1979.

December 15, 1978: The Disappearance

The California missing-person records and The Charley Project identify December 15, 1978, as Mackirdy’s last known contact date.

According to information attributed to NamUs and reproduced in a missing-person discussion, Mackirdy was visiting friends in San Francisco. He reportedly planned to meet an unidentified man for dinner that evening but never returned to his friends’ residence.

The publicly reproduced account does not identify the man, specify the restaurant, or establish whether the planned dinner actually occurred.

A separate contemporary newspaper notice, published in January 1979, stated that Mackirdy had last been seen in the South of Market/Folsom area. Notably, this historical notice gave December 18, 1978, as the date he had been missing since.

That creates a discrepancy between the contemporary report and the December 15 date recorded in later missing-person databases. The available material does not resolve whether December 18 represented a different last-sighting date, a reporting error, or another point in the disappearance timeline.

For consistency with the state missing-person information and NamUs-derived record, December 15, 1978, is used as the primary disappearance date in this article, while the historical discrepancy remains important.

Sources: The Charley Project, Websleuths case discussion, and 1979 historical notice.

Investigation History and Available Evidence

The family’s early search

One of the most significant pieces of historical documentation is the January 1979 missing-person appeal in The Gay Crusader.

The notice reported that Mackirdy’s relatives were extremely worried about him because he had left personal belongings and unopened Christmas presents behind.

His family retained private investigator Hal Minshaw to help determine his whereabouts and safety. The notice asked anyone who had seen Mackirdy to contact Minshaw.

This confirms that a family-supported private search was underway within weeks of his disappearance.

However, the available reporting does not establish how long Minshaw investigated, whom he interviewed, or whether his efforts uncovered substantial leads. The telephone numbers published for him in 1979 are historical and should not be treated as current contact information.

Source: 1979 family search appeal.

Law enforcement involvement

The San Francisco Police Department is identified as the investigating agency in both California’s missing-person records and The Charley Project.

The California Department of Justice lists case number 210011348 in association with Mackirdy and provides the department’s missing-person contact number, 415-553-1071.

The public record does not provide a detailed investigative chronology identifying all officers, interviews, searches, or case reviews.

The absence of published investigative details should not be interpreted as proof that such efforts never occurred.

Source: California missing-person listing.

Witness information and the unidentified dinner companion

The account of Mackirdy’s intended dinner meeting is potentially important because it may help establish his plans on the evening he disappeared.

Nevertheless, publicly accessible information does not establish whether the unidentified man was ever located or interviewed.

There is also no verified public evidence that this individual was responsible for Mackirdy’s disappearance.

The man should therefore be described only as a person mentioned in the reported circumstances, not as an officially identified suspect or person of interest.

Physical and forensic evidence

Mackirdy’s physical description and clothing are documented in missing-person records. His scar beneath the chin is a distinguishing characteristic that could assist identification.

No publicly verified case-specific information was located establishing that investigators recovered his clothing, personal property as forensic evidence, biological material, or other physical evidence connected to a crime.

Likewise, no publicly confirmed DNA match, genetic-genealogy identification, or identification of remains was located in the reviewed sources.

These limitations describe what is publicly documented, not necessarily everything held in confidential investigative files.

Theories and Unresolved Questions

Because Mackirdy’s disappearance remains unexplained, several questions are relevant to understanding the case. None should be mistaken for an established investigative conclusion.

Did Mackirdy attend the planned dinner?

The NamUs-derived account indicates that he planned to meet an unidentified man for dinner. It does not establish that the meeting happened.

Determining whether the dinner occurred, and whether anyone saw Mackirdy afterward, could help clarify the final known sequence of events.

What happened in the South of Market area?

The 1979 historical report placed Mackirdy’s last known sighting in the South of Market/Folsom area.

It remains unclear whether that sighting occurred before or after the planned dinner, whether it was independently corroborated, and how it relates to the differing disappearance dates.

Was foul play involved?

Foul play is one possible explanation for an unexplained disappearance, but the public evidence reviewed does not establish that Mackirdy was the victim of a homicide or abduction.

There is no publicly verified named suspect, criminal charge, or homicide determination associated with this case in the sources examined.

Why did he leave his belongings behind?

The family’s contemporary concern about his abandoned belongings and unopened Christmas presents suggests that his absence was alarming to those close to him.

However, those circumstances alone cannot establish whether his disappearance was voluntary, accidental, or the result of a crime.

The unresolved questions remain significant precisely because the available evidence does not permit a reliable conclusion.

Latest Publicly Available Investigative Updates

Research reviewed through October 18, 2026

June 10, 2024: NamUs case creation

Information reproduced from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) identifies June 10, 2024, as the date Mackirdy’s NamUs case was created.

His reference number is MP123764.

The record includes his identifying characteristics, disappearance date, and the account of his planned dinner meeting.

The creation of this database entry is a documented administrative development. It does not, by itself, establish that investigators discovered new evidence or reopened the investigation.

Source: NamUs details reproduced on Websleuths.

June 13, 2024: Charley Project update

The Charley Project identifies June 13, 2024, as the date its Mackirdy casefile was added or last updated.

The profile confirms the December 15, 1978, disappearance date, physical description, and San Francisco Police Department contact information.

It also states that few details are publicly available about the circumstances.

This publication represents an important addition to public awareness of the case, but not a verified investigative breakthrough.

Source: John Howard Mackirdy casefile.

Status as of October 2026

Mackirdy continues to appear in the California Department of Justice’s public missing-person listings, associated with the San Francisco Police Department.

No publicly confirmed recent investigative developments were located in the sources reviewed.

Specifically, the research did not establish any newly announced arrests, charges, suspect identifications, forensic matches, recovered remains, or confirmed resolution.

No verified public announcement of a new genetic-genealogy effort or recent cold-case breakthrough was located.

The absence of such announcements does not mean the investigation has been closed or that investigators are no longer evaluating information. It means that these developments could not be independently confirmed from the publicly accessible material reviewed.

Source: California DOJ missing-person records.

Conclusion: Remembering John Howard Mackirdy and the Search for Answers

John Howard Mackirdy was just 22 years old when he disappeared in San Francisco in December 1978.

The historical record preserves a few essential details: he had been visiting the city, he was associated with the Castro and South of Market areas, and his family became sufficiently concerned to retain a private investigator.

Later missing-person records added the account of an intended dinner meeting with an unidentified man.

Yet fundamental questions remain unanswered. His final movements have not been publicly reconstructed in full, the identity and significance of his intended dinner companion remain unclear, and no verified public evidence establishes what ultimately happened to him.

The passage of time makes historical disappearances increasingly difficult to investigate, but information may still exist among former friends, acquaintances, residents, or people who remember the neighborhoods where Mackirdy spent time.

Anyone with credible information about John Howard Mackirdy’s disappearance, his activities in San Francisco in December 1978, or the reported dinner meeting is encouraged to contact the San Francisco Police Department at 415-553-1071.

When providing information, reference his full name and California DOJ case number 210011348.

Even after decades, an overlooked detail or firsthand recollection could help clarify what happened to John Howard Mackirdy.