Where is Travis J. Zwieg?
Written by: Kenzie Desrosiers
On the morning of March 10, 1991, 30-year-old Kevin Zwieg took his 3-year-old son, Travis, to visit family friends – Rick Russell, Sherry Jones, and their teenage son – at their cabin in Pinyon Pines, Riverside County, California. Kevin’s partner, Nancy Finley, stayed home with their 4-year-old daughter Jessica and 4-month-old son Corey, along with her parents.
It was a beautiful winter Sunday; Kevin was chopping wood as Travis played with a golden retriever, Baby – one of four dogs – in the dirt yard of the cabin. Kevin turned his back for a moment to fix the chainsaw when Sherry came out and asked where Travis was. Both Travis and the dogs were gone. Less than thirty minutes later, Baby returned without Travis. In a panic, Kevin set out on foot in search of his son, as Russell and Sherry mounted their horses.
When they couldn’t find Travis, Kevin returned to the cabin and called 911. A search – on foot, horseback, and vehicle – was conducted, along with a door-to-door search.
At 2 p.m. the following day, all search teams were asked to return to base for a debrief; “we were informed that Travis might have been killed by a mountain lion. Base camp was 90% sure. Mountain lion paw prints and scuff marks of something being dragged away were found in the area where the last set of tracks were lost.” This theory was later disproven after expert federal trackers determined that the tracks next to the child-sized footprints belonged to a large dog that “was apparently chasing a deer.” These trackers located more child-sized prints, as well as an indentation where a small-sized person rested.
The search for Travis was called off at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday due to sub-freezing temperatures. Experts did not believe that Travis could have survived negative 20-degree weather. Travis’ disappearance was looked into as an abduction and several sightings of a boy matching Travis’ description were reported but never confirmed.
Authorities looked into the possibility of an abduction, after several people reported having seen a young boy matching Travis’ description, however, after authorities investigated the potential leads the child was in fact, not Travis.
Tamar Tweedie, a Pinyon Pines resident, alleged that Kevin and Nancy owed someone money. Other neighbors went as far as to add that Travis’ was taken as payment after the couple failed to pay the money they owed.
After Travis' disappearance, Kevin and Nancy split up. For unknown reasons, Jessica and Corey were put up for adoption and separated.
In June 2020, Twisted Sister Chronicles reached out to Jessica Meyers, Travis’ older sister. She believes that her grandparents and/or parents know what happened to Travis, perhaps even had something to do with it. Till this day, she lives 30-minutes from where Travis disappeared and continues to fight for answers. Recently, she said that she ran into a man – allegedly Rick and Sherry’s son - who told her, “bad people took your brother.” She further explained that authorities looked heavily at Kevin as a possible suspect. "At one point an interrogator told my day 'you chopped your son up and spread him all over the mountain, didn't you," said Jessica. Kevin became physical with the interrogators and was arrested. He was eventually let out on bail and no charges were filed against him in connection with the disappearance of Travis.
Both parents have since moved away from the area.
Just a few years ago, a new cold case detective reopened Travis’ case but still no leads or arrests have been made.
Twisted Sister Chronicles attempted to reach out to the Riverside Sheriff’s Office, but we have yet to receive a comment. Furthermore, we reached out to the China Lake Mountain Rescue Group who aided in the search for Travis but have yet to receive comment.
In March 2021, it will be the 30th anniversary of Travis’ disappearance. If you know anything about the case, please reach out to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at (915) 955-2400.
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