Matthew Weaver Jr.: The Topanga Search
Agency entries, early appeals and aerial photographs preserve different parts of the search.
Abstract
NamUs MP51786 lists August 10, 2018, as Matthew Jonathan Weaver’s Date of Last Contact in Topanga, California. Its narrative describes an abandoned car near Rosa’s Overlook on the Topanga Lookout Trail.1
The Agency Records
The registry names the Los Angeles Police Department’s Adult Missing Persons Unit and reference 181714864. Its brief narrative does not provide the underlying footage, messages or witness statements needed to reconstruct the day.1
California’s Department of Justice entry uses the fuller name Matthew Jonathan Weaver Jr. and the same agency reference. It lists August 10 as Date Last Seen and describes an Angels cap, red shoes and Dickie brand pants.2
The matching reference helps identify the same case across differently formatted names. The clothing description is identifying information in an agency entry; it is not evidence of his movements after that date.2
The First Public Appeals
ABC7’s October 17, 2018, report described a twenty-one-year-old who had recently moved to Granada Hills. His family had gathered in Calabasas to ask for help, explaining the absence he left in their lives.3
That story associated his last-seen account with Simi Valley and described his car at the edge of the Topanga Mountain Motorway. A residence, a reported last-seen locality and a vehicle location should retain their separate meanings rather than becoming an invented route.3
The request directed information to Los Angeles Police, linking the public appeal to the agency responsible for the case.3
Times in a Later Account
Maydeen Merino and Donald Roberts’s August 2019 Canyon News report described surveillance at approximately 7:15 a.m. on August 10, placing a vehicle on the Topanga Tower Motorway toward Rosas Overlook. It also referred to social-media activity around 7:28 a.m. and a message near midday.4
The underlying footage and message records were not inspected here. The report’s wording about sending and receiving a text is not consistent enough to assign a message’s author or turn those references into a verified minute-by-minute account.4
Asking the Public to Look
Jory Rand’s January 11, 2019, ABC7 report described a different approach to searching the terrain: the family released 797 high-resolution drone photographs associated with GPS locations. The hope was that people examining the images might notice something useful.5
Rand quoted a sister and uncle James Weaver about their search and need for further information. This was an invitation to examine material, not confirmation that a particular image showed Matthew or established his location.5
Sourced Accounts and Questions
Here’s where you come in. Can you distinguish an agency’s last-seen field from the separate discovery of a vehicle?2
Can you trace each reported time to the original footage or message record before assigning a person’s movements?4
Can you establish an aerial image’s date and location before treating an apparent detail as a useful lead?5
Keep exact links, the source’s wording and your unanswered questions in a Research File in Almost Solved. Record whether a detail came from a public agency entry, an attributed family statement or a reporter’s account. A promising question is a place to seek documentation, rather than a reason to identify an unknown person or announce a conclusion.
Show later developments and reported outcomes
Later Vigil and Search Reporting
Amy Powell’s August 11, 2019, ABC7 report described a candlelight vigil marking the first anniversary. It reported that the drone photographs had helped the family recover a cap and T-shirt. This is the news account of the family’s search, not an independently inspected recovery or forensic report.6
Powell also reported a sister’s belief that someone had harmed Matthew. That belief is not a police-confirmed crime or finding of responsibility. The account does not establish his whereabouts.6
The uncle’s quoted appeal appears in both January and August coverage. Repeated wording should not be counted as a separate new interview or independent corroboration merely because the later article carries a different date.5,6
Scope and Method
Original footage, messages, aerial-image files, recovery documentation and the investigative file were not inspected.
Prepared with AI assistance. Sources and references checked against the cited public materials. This paper is an original synthesis of the identified public sources; it does not reproduce article bodies, transcripts, or an investigative file.
Footnote References
- NamUs, MP51786, Matthew Jonathan Weaver; reviewed November 2, 2026.
- California DOJ, Matthew Jonathan Weaver Jr. entry; reviewed November 2, 2026.
- ABC7 staff, Matthew Weaver family appeal, October 17, 2018.
- Maydeen Merino and Donald Roberts, Canyon News, Vigil Held for Matthew Weaver, August 12, 2019.
- Jory Rand, ABC7, aerial-search appeal, January 2019.
- Amy Powell, ABC7, Matthew Weaver anniversary search report, August 11, 2019.