25 Theories About The Man Who Went Missing Then Showed Up At Home 30 Years Later

Updated 3 years ago, April 5 2022
Spooky

In 1991, Vasile Gorgos, a 63-year-old cattle seller from Romania, disappeared without a trace after leaving for a business trip. He got a train ticket, as he usually did when going on a business trip, told his wife and kids he would be back in a few days, and never returned. His family reported his disappearance to the authorities, but nothing came of it. Fast forward to August 2021, a car stops in front of his family home and drops the now 93-year-old off. He has a good appearance, is clean, wearing the same pants he went missing in, and can’t remember where he’s been for the past 30 years.

1. Cases of Abandoning Their Families in Rural Romania

Sorry might I have misread them but none of the articles provided mention that he wore the same clothes. Moreover the phrasing used regarding the buying date of the ticket is ambiguous and could be interpreted as either referring to the date when he was found or the day when he went missing. I suspect the correct option is the first one.
LE: I am Romanian btw.
Regarding the articles listed one is from a national news station so probably it’s not made up. There have been cases of people abandoning their families in rural Romania and showing up decades later so it wouldn’t be that surprising tbh.
randusr01

2. Intentionally Disappeared

That is weird, so weird. My theory – he left intentionally, and now he is suffering from dementia or some form of illness whoever he was with has decided to put the onus on his original family to look after him.
bonhommemaury

3. Vanishing Fathers

This is exactly what happened to someone I met once. Her father just vanished. He was a hard-working Chinese immigrant in Toronto, devoted to his family. No trace of where he went.
Fast forward over 30 years, the daughter received a surprise message from a relative in China saying they could no longer look after him, his health was too poor.
All those year’s ago he just returned to China and started a new life. In his last years, he developed Parkinson’s with dementia. The relative brought him on a flight to Toronto and just turned back.
So relatives there knew the whole time but didn’t feel it was their place to interfere. But in the end, his new wife and relatives in China wanted no part of taking care of him.
Surprisingly, his Toronto family treated him with great respect and care. His daughter devoted herself to taking care of him. He was no longer able to communicate and didn’t seem to be aware of things, but was responsive, maybe because they were kind to him.
He was in the same hospital room as my father when my dad was in hospital for a few days. They drew the curtains one day and I noticed he was no longer receiving food. The daughter stayed until he passed away.
I talked to her afterwards. She seemed as though it was her duty and she did her best. She wasn’t very emotional, just resolved to the situation.
MissingMyDog

4. Probably Didn’t Intend to Return

My guess was similar. I think he left voluntarily, and never intended to return to his first family. Perhaps his second partner died and he realized that he had no one to take care of him.
Still, if that were the case, then surely someone would remember him from his second life and speak up. Or perhaps he left Romania to live elsewhere.
I don’t think this is as mysterious as Mr. Gorgos would like us to believe.
RedditSkippy

5. Dissociative Disorder

It’s possible he suffered from something like severe dissociative fugue.
People will travel to other places for seemingly no reason and develop an entire alternate personality and live a relatively normal life there while forgetting their entire past life, they can sometimes return to their prior homes and forget about the entire episode where they lived somewhere else and we’re a different person.
It’s related to dissociative identity disorder.
mrtibbles32

6. Double Life

It’s not uncommon for some men to live double lives with second families. This sounds very plausible.
allenidaho

7. Dementia

So the person who drop him off was deliberately kept his clothes and ticket for 30y just in case he got dementia or other sort of illness. Or he did a such elaborate planning to keep his clothes for all this time in case if he gets bored after 30y at 92y of age, that he can come back home later like nothing happened!? Most highly unlikely that this was his intention.
mikihak

8. Second Family

His “business trip” is most likely a second family. Now that he has dementia or declining health he decides to go back to the original family. A bit of a troll this fella.
lord_of_tits

9. Rapid Onset Dementia

As someone whose father came down with essentially rapid onset dementia and his long-time fiancée covered up his falls/decline/refused to take him to a doctor before abandoning him when we found out and called her on it…
You’re sadly probably spot on.
LiterallyEmily

10. Not the Only One

When my dad was growing up. He had an uncle who left on Thanksgiving to go get bread and cigarettes from gas station… never showed back up. He walked through the door 25 years later on thanksgiving with the loaf of bread and cigarettes. And refused to talk about where he’d been for the past 25 years. I always thought this was the craziest shit I’d ever heard.
Turkey49

11. Another Family and Home

My leading theory is that he had another family and “home”. As time goes by his neurological state declines and he never returns. Until he one day ventures out of the house, gets confused, and returns to where he remembers as his home.. the one he left 30 years earlier and not the one he has just left.
Of course, this explains nothing. Why has no one asked for him, or come forward from his time away? The exact outfit is way too much of a coincidence to not be intentional.. and who was the person who dropped him off and never to pick him up again?
Victoriaspalace

12. Remembering the Past

People with dementia often remember things from the past. Maybe this man had kept his old clothes and the train ticket somewhere. He wakes up one day, can’t recognize where he’s at (normal if you have dementia), remembers “home” (the old one), and starts trying to get there, dressing how he remembers, and taking the train ticket to return. Then maybe he can’t get home (he’s probably confused), and some good Samaritan offers to help the old man. This person finds out where “home” is (he/she gets the address from the id), and drops the man at his old home. That’s what I think could’ve happened.
Edit: another possibility is that he had a stroke that gave him dementia (it’s possible) and he got put in a hospice, from where he escaped.
Or a combination: he had a second family, he got dementia, was put in a hospice, and escaped.
Edit 2: a darker one could be, he had a second family, but not his children. Woman dies, he gets dementia, woman’s children can’t cope with him talking about his family and home (the old one), and decide to return him to them. Yes, sounds awful, but it’s possible.
damianvila

13. Not Trustworthy

My theory is he started a new family, things ended up broke, divorced, and sick, he comes back to old family so they can take care of him or he can get some help from old friends and family.
Maybe I’m just cynical, but I don’t trust this guy.
bikwho

14. Abandoning the Cattle

The biggest issue with this theory is that he was a cattle farmer. Leaving means abandoning his cattle which is kinda not happening. These people would rather abandon the wife than abandon the cattle.
vezokpiraka

15. Pretending to Not Remember

I think he left intentionally and now pretends he doesn’t know. Probably living with his mistress or something. Maybe she died and he decided to go back to his original family. Lacking any good explanation, he decides to pretend to not know anything about his whereabouts.
This or the dementia theory imo.
regenflocke

16. Aliens

I’m not saying it was aliens but…
JackieBlue1970

17. DNA Tests

His kids should get their Ancestry DNA or something if they want to find their half siblings I suspect may be out there that can fill in some gaps.
Sisu124

18. So Much Confusion

I am so confused by the comments, but this seems nothing like a second family to me. When men have a second life and leave their families, they usually don’t plan on coming back; and if they do its within a certain time period. I’m no expert on infidelity, but I am a counselor and I do know three people who’s fathers walked out on them and never spoke to them again, simply because they decided their other family was worth the love and time.
With that being said, I can’t help but wrap my head around the fact that he was gone for 30 years. cheating men aren’t always the smartest when it comes to their choices. If he did leave his family to be with a second one, him being gone for 30 years suggest that he had no intentions of returning. (Similarly to those who I know, who never met their father, or only seen them a handful of times while they were still toddlers) If this man returned back 30 years later with the same clothes on and train ticket he used when he left, then why would he keep those items after all those years? Because he knew he’d want to return back ? Wouldn’t staying with the other woman or family for 30 years suggest he’d already developed some attachment to the other women/ children he had with her? would that not be a sign that things were permanent with them?
Also, if he’s been with another family for that long, surely he has solidified a bond and connection that wouldn’t make him feel he should keep his same clothes and the train ticket just in case. At this point, he’s already started a new life and wants to forget his old one. He probably would throw the clothes out along with the ticket. How many people do you know keep clothes for that long? or remain the same weight for that matter ?
Why leave a family you’ve bonded and connected with for 30 years to return to a previous family you haven’t seen during those entire 3 decades? Not only would he have zero feelings or connections to the old family, but they’re practically strangers to him by this point.
Am I missing something ??????
leheaux

19. Not Really a Mystery

There’s a video interview with his daughter in law. She says he mentioned a woman called Maria Rotila.
He also said this woman died of alcoholism.
There’s really no big mystery.
Low_discrepancy

20. Second Wife Was Tired

Second wife got sick of him once he developed dementia. Dropped him off for first wife to care for. That’s my theory.
HermioneMarch

21. Twilight Zone

I feel like this is some sort of Twilight Zone episode lol. But I agree with what most people are saying that he had another life. That seems the most plausible. But also he’s 93 years old. What makes him think that his wife would even be alive still? Or his kids in the area? I wonder if he knew they were still around because it seems weird to go back to a place where you aren’t 100% sure your family is still living or even alive. I’m curious to see what comes of this in the coming months/year.
onlythesea

22. Too Late To Start a New Family

Everybody talking about a second family is forgetting the fact that he left when he was 63. That is a pretty old age to leave and start a second family. You also have to remember he was a cattle seller in rural Romania, not some multi-millionaire movie star.
I suppose it is possible he had a second wife, but unlikely.
ncprof

23. Returned From Space

He was clearly abducted by aliens. They got tired of him and returned him.
Living_Watercress

24. Monastery Work

My theory:. On the day he vanished he had some type of misfortune and ended up in a monastery. Romania is an Orthodox country. Monks, especially good ones, might not ask too many questions if he just decided to stay and could still work. (Orthodox monasteries are self sustaining for the most part.).
Once his mind started to go, the Abbot arranged his return. (This part seems a little unlikely now that I think about it.most monasteries would probably keep him until death, IF he had been tonsured. If he was never tonsured they would probably return him, but only in that case). It is also possible he went over the border maybe Moldavia and that really is remote! Away fr the world.
Still…this my theory. Whatever happened I hope he is ok.
sqdot