the ponyboy chronicles

Man found wandering in India may be Howell
May 22, 2002 Posted: 2:40 PM EDT (1840 GMT)

MUMBAI, INDIA (LBOZ) -- A man discovered dazed and wandering in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), may be the actor C. Thomas Howell, investigators said Wednesday. Howell, presumed dead after a sniper attack in Dalian, China, went missing after his body was being transported to Los Angeles for funeral services.

Actor C. Thomas Howell was last seen May 15 in Dalian, China.

"We have not confirmed that it is him," said a local police source. "My understanding is that he does not remember who he is or how he got here."

The man was found in a ghetto section of Mumbai, apparently naked and shivering as he wandered the streets. Three men brought him to the local police station, strangely disappearing immediately thereafter and not being available to offer details.

Police say the man bears a striking resemblance to Howell, who was a box office star in the 1980s before becoming a writer/producer for the cable network Showtime. Recently Howell had been in the news for a bizarre series of unexplained occurrences that frequently left him for dead.

Investigators are looking into means of establishing the man's identity, to avoid potential confusion as in a recent situation where a look-alike of the actor was killed in a British train disaster. A body thought to have been Howell's remains was being transported via cargo plane from China to Los Angeles when it was noticed missing during a fuel stop in the U.S.-controlled Midway Islands.

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