Angelo “Nick” Gatti

Nick’s story

Angelo Nicola Gatti Jr., known as Nick, was 21 and lived in Newport Beach. [3] In July 1974, family members drove him up the Ortega Highway and dropped him off near San Juan Hot Springs, at the edge of the Cleveland National Forest. He planned to live off the land for a couple of weeks. He had a sleeping bag and a .22-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. He never came home, and no sighting, belongings or remains have ever been found. [1][6]

Who Nick was

Nick was a keen hiker and naturalist who often went off on solitary trips, and who, his mother said, normally called and came back. The Sheriff’s Department’s bulletin says he was in a depressed mood at the time and “overly concerned with the environment.” On the drive, his father later recalled, they talked about Nick’s wish to live simply in nature. [1][5]

He was small, 5’2” to 5’4”, with reddish-brown hair and a beard, and blue eyes. He was last seen in a white T-shirt, cut-off corduroys, a white Yamaha jacket and tan work boots. After he vanished, his parents found his wallet, identification, Social Security card and watch still at home. [1][5][6]

What happened

On July 13, 1974, family members dropped Nick in the San Juan Hot Springs area off the Ortega Highway. Official records put this at 7 p.m. In a 1996 interview his father remembered it as the morning. [1][5]

He expected to be gone for a couple of weeks. When he didn’t get in touch, his family turned to the Sheriff’s Department, Newport Beach police and a private search-and-rescue group. Then, for four years, they searched the mountains themselves almost every Saturday, sometimes with a trail expert, checking maps, back trails and caves. They found nothing. [5]

Where it happened

By 1974, San Juan Hot Springs was no longer a working resort. It had closed in 1936, but bathers, campers and, at times, squatters kept using the springs through the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1974, the year Nick was dropped off, Orange County acquired the springs for what became Caspers Wilderness Park and cracked down on trespassing. It isn’t known whether that had happened by July. The springs lie beside the Cleveland National Forest’s rugged Santa Ana Mountains, which run for miles in every direction. [4][7]

What investigators have said

The Sheriff’s Department lists Nick as an endangered missing person. Dental X-rays are on file. His case was entered in the national NamUs database in 2012, which allows comparison with unidentified remains across the country. [1][2][6]

Over the years his family asked whether two notorious Southern California serial killers, Randy Kraft and William Bonin, could have been involved. A prosecutor who handled both cases said in 1996 that Bonin was a poor fit for the timing and pattern. No evidence has linked either man to Nick’s disappearance. [5]

Where accounts differ

• Time of drop-off: 7 p.m. in official records; morning in his father’s 1996 memory. [1][5]
• Last seen where: state and federal databases list him as missing from Newport Beach, his home. The drop-off was in the hills above San Juan Capistrano. [2][6]
• When he was reported missing: after “several months” (official bulletin) or “several weeks” (his parents). [1][5]
• Small details: his boots are “tan” in one record and “yellow and tan” in another; his mole is on his “chest” in one and “abdomen” in another. [1][2][6]

Open questions

• Exactly where along the Ortega Highway was he dropped off?
• Did any ranger, camper or hiker meet a young man matching his description in summer 1974?
• Has his .22 revolver ever surfaced?
• Is family DNA on file to compare with remains found since?

What you can do

• If you hiked, camped or worked in the San Juan Hot Springs area or the Santa Ana Mountains in 1974, think back: a slight young man with reddish hair and a beard, carrying a sleeping bag; a conversation at a campsite; anything.
• Check unidentified remains: search NamUs for male remains found in the Santa Ana Mountains, Riverside County and the wider region and compare them with his description.
• Research: the San Clemente Sun Post News of July 28, 1975 ran a story on the springs that may describe who was living there then. Search 1974–75 Orange County papers for “Nick Gatti.” [7]