Missing US air force officer found after 35 years

A US air force captain who vanished without trace 35 years ago has been found living in California under a new identity.

Captain William Howard Hughes Jr was last seen on 25 July 1983, when he withdrew a total of $28,500 (£21,300) from 19 bank branches around Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was stationed following his return from service in Europe.

At the time of his disappearance, the 31-year-old office had top secret security clearance, working on “classified planning and analysis of Nato command, control and communications surveillance systems”, US military journal Stars and Stripes reports.

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Initially, “intelligence officers believed that Hughes was either captured by Soviet Union agents or had voluntarily defected to the Soviet Union”, Air Force Times reports.

In December 1983, he was formally declared a deserter. “Due to his access to classified information he was declared a fugitive and was on a list of the USAF's seven most wanted individuals,” says the BBC.

Last week, almost 35 years since he vanished, Hughes has been discovered in California, where he has spent the last three decades under an assumed name.

"On June 5, during a passport fraud investigation, the US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service interviewed an individual claiming to be Barry O'Beirne,” the Air Force said in a statement.

“After being confronted with inconsistencies about his identity, the individual admitted his true name was William Howard Hughes Jr., and that he deserted from the US Air Force in 1983.”

Hughes, now 66, was taken into custody reportedly told investigators that he was “depressed” in the service and created a fake identity to start a new life.

He is currently being held at Travis Air Force Base in California, faced with charges of peacetime desertion, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.