Eric Travers, a missing 30-year-old man who was last seen on April 30 and was reported missing to the Mission police station, has been found alive in San Francisco county jail.
Travers was initially booked into jail for assault, but all chargers were subsequently dismissed.
Travers had been traveling to San Francisco from North Carolina to audition with the band Spirit Hustler. He was last seen in the Tenderloin last week, according to South Carolina news station WNPE. His brother put up a fundraiser over the weekend asking for support to fly out to San Francisco and hire a private investigator. โMy mother is worried sick, and so am I,โ the brother wrote.
Travers suffers from epilepsy, according to this brotherโs fundraiser, and had been without medication since he went missing. โEric has severe epilepsy, and all his medications were left in the hotel room he hasn’t returned to,โ he wrote. โHe needs them to survive.โ
It is unclear if the lack of medication affected Traversโ behavior.
Anyone with information is asked to call the SFPD tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.
This piece was updated on March 7, 2026, with new information on the dismissal of charges.
Bye Eric Travers — back to North Carolina with you! I love living on Shotwell Street, but not with being around people who throw objects at people and cars.
Drummer?
There have been a lot of incidents of mentally ill people causing similar disturbances in the Mission. It probably happens every day.
I wonder why this person’s name, photo, and race were published prominently.
Really sad to read this. The description doesnโt sound like the same person. I donโt know if Iโve even seen him even close to 200 pounds. Iโm also sure his family doesnโt want everything out there. He should have stayed in the hospital and family contacted. There are mental health issues at play. People that take medication like what he was on canโt stop it. If stopped suddenly it can cause all sorts of issues. He always was robbed of his wallet and phone but that didnโt seem to make the article. This was what threw him into the spiral of not knowing where he was and not getting back to his hotel and medication.
Really this story should be told in full, but that is a fraught proposition given the circumstances. This outlet extensively covers the system, and the system predictably and completely failed Erik. He should not have been released from the hospital and sent to jail, and he should not have been released from jail to the streets.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened here, and I’m sorry this story didn’t get the attention to nuance it deserved.
I have been a psych nurse for 40 years. You speak the truth.
**Bye Eric Travers โ back to North Carolina with you! **
Is this because he is from out of town – a non-SF-like place? Isn’t that a kind of xenophobic and “Blueneck” attitude? Despite him being a aspiring musician – a profession with entry requirements of strong emotional motivation and a lack of common sense and self care.
In my teenage years I had a friend who was epileptic and also linked to drink – the medication did not mix well with alcohol, and it got him in trouble often: getting beaten up, jumping off a bridge (he survived ok). Wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case here too.
Glad he didn’t hurt anybody, hope he finds success in music, and stays clean after this.
Travers isn’t on jail roster and update says he’s getting professional help. Those charges are overblown and hopefully the worst of this is behind him (or soon to be).