NorCal man who went missing in 1999 found at LA-area hospital after sister sees him in news article

LOS ANGELES -- A Northern California man who went missing 25 years ago has been found at a Los Angeles-area hospital after his sister saw his picture in a news article, authorities said.

The discovery unfolded when the sister called authorities on Friday to say she was sent a USA Today article published in May that showed a photo of a man who looked like her brother, the Lassen County Sheriff's Office said. He had been hospitalized after being found in South L.A. on April 15.

The woman's brother had vanished in 1999 from Doyle, California, which is near Reno, Nevada, authorities said. It appears he went missing voluntarily, according to the sheriff's office.

The USA Today article published this spring asked the public to help identify a nonverbal man who was in a hospital in Lynwood, the sheriff's office said.

Lassen County sheriff's deputy Derek Kennemore contacted St. Francis Medical Center and learned the unidentified man was transferred to another LA-area hospital in July, authorities said.

A Los Angeles police detective went to the second hospital and fingerprinted the patient, which confirmed his identity as the man reported missing in 1999, the sheriff's office said in a statement Monday.

Kennemore gave the man's sister the news, and the family will soon be reunited, authorities said. The sheriff's office is keeping the man's identity private.

The sister "was super excited," Capt. Mike Carney of the Lassen County Sheriff's Office told ABC News on Tuesday. "She was very appreciative that we took the time just to follow up on it. She was over the moon and anxious to call other family members to let them know."

"It's gonna make their Thanksgiving that much better," he said.

Carney called this a "perfect example" of not giving up on missing persons cases.

"Be tenacious when it comes to these things, because there are family members that want answers," he said.