Fourth of July weekend, 2025, was full of fun and celebration for the Vink family. “We went to our community pool and had, like, a little pizza party, and the kids decorated their scooters,” Carly Vink told Dateline.
Carly’s husband, 51-year-old Lucien Vink, also participated in the events, along with their two young children. “Everything was normal,” Carly said.
The festive weekend in San Clemente, California, came to a dramatic halt on Monday morning, July 7.
Carly told Dateline she woke up that morning to go to a 6:30 gym class, and Lucien was not in bed, which was totally normal. “He does have type 1 diabetes, and he wears monitoring devices that can beep very loudly sometimes. So if he has high blood sugar, he’ll very commonly sleep on the couch,” she explained.
Carly went downstairs, but Lucien was not on the couch. “I thought, ‘Oh, one of the kids must have woken up while he was still up last night, and he went and fell asleep in one of their rooms,’” she said.
Carly says she remembers seeing her husband’s wallet and phone on the counter before she left for the gym.
When she came back home from the gym around 7:30, there was still no sign of Lucien. “He would, 100% of the time, be up and making coffee or something downstairs at this time,” Carly said.
Carly glanced at the counter where Lucien’s wallet and phone were and noticed something else: a note.
According to Carly, the note indicated “that he was sorry and loved us.”
“And I thought, ‘Well, that’s bizarre,’” she said.
Carly told Dateline at this point, she still believed Lucien was in the house. “Keep in mind, I’ve driven past his car now to go to the gym, and when I returned from the gym, so I was like, ‘What? What is he sorry for? Oh, my gosh. When he wakes up, we need to have a discussion.’ And so I hopped in the shower,” she said.
“I’m just finishing my shower, and my stomach drops, and I think, ‘Wait a second, what if he’s not in one of the kids’ rooms?’” Carly remembered. She says she immediately went to check her children’s rooms. They were still asleep. There was no sign of Lucien.
She then ran downstairs to look at his belongings on the counter, and this time, noticed his glucose monitor and the insulin administration device he was supposed to wear 24/7 were both there. “He’s a citizen of the Netherlands, so his green card is there, um, all of his credit cards are there,” Carly said.
Carly says she then called local hospitals, and none of them had a patient named Lucien or a John Doe.
“I ask them, you know. ‘What do I — what do I do? What — you know, I don’t — I’ve never been in this situation. I don’t have the — the tools to handle this. I — I don’t know what’s wrong.’ So [the woman on the phone] just said to call the police,” Carly said. So she called 911. “I explain that he’s critical because he’s a type 1 diabetic, and it appears that he does not have any of his glucometer or insulin devices on him.”
Carly had her children picked up by a friend, and when deputies arrived, they searched the home, took her statement, and filed a critical missing persons report. According to Carly, they searched the neighborhood and obtained two security camera videos from neighbors, the first of which she shared with Dateline.
“The first one is 1:58 a.m. on Monday, July 7, and it’s him walking down the middle of our street, um, wearing a T-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes, a hat, and a backpack,” Carly said. According to Carly there is another video that shows her husband exiting their cul-de-sac onto another street.
According to a post from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on Facebook, Lucien Vink “was last seen on Sunday, July 6, in the city of San Clemente near Camino Forestal and Calle Precipicio. Lucien was wearing a dark short-sleeve t-shirt, dark shorts, and carrying a black backpack.”
Carly clarified to Dateline that the evening of July 6 was the last time she physically saw Lucien in their home. Dateline reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for more information, but was directed to their social media for available information.
“I searched homeless encampments. I went to the mission to search for him, the food banks, and they put out missing flyers,” Carly said. “And we have not heard anything since.”
According to Carly, the days leading up to that weekend were normal and she didn’t notice any unusual behavior on Lucien’s part that would have prompted him to write the note she found on the counter the morning her husband vanished.
When asked if there had been any disagreements, Carly told Dateline, “I couldn’t even tell you the last time, maybe a month or two. Um, and definitely not like a storm-out-of-the-house fight, just kind of like a disagreement, and we heal over and move on, you know? Normal couple situation. Never mentioned the words ‘divorce’ or ‘I don’t wanna be with you anymore’ or anything.”
“He is the most loving, wonderful man on the planet,” Carly said, describing her husband. She is at a loss to explain why Lucien would have walked away from their lives. “This would never, ever, ever be something that he would ever consider or do in his right mind,” she said. “This is just not who he is.”
Lucien is approximately 5’10” and 160 lbs. He is bald and has blue eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Orange County Sheriff’s Department at 714-647-7000.
If you have a story to share with Dateline, please submit it here.
