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Sarah Cheiker had lived in the small bungalow in the Fairfax district for decades, first with her mom and then by herself.

But one day in 2008 she vanished, and a bulldozer showed up to demolish her longtime home.

“I was shocked. We figured she was dead,” said Jim Caccavo, who had been Cheiker’s next-door neighbor for 35 years. When he couldn’t find out what had become of the 89-year-old woman, he filed a missing person’s report.

Four years later, two FBI agents rolled into the neighborhood and starting knocking on doors, asking questions and telling residents that Cheiker had been found alive — abandoned and alone in a weathered cabin near the coast of Maine.

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For decades, Sarah Cheiker lived on Edinburgh Avenue in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. After she disappeared in 2008, her bungalow was sold, razed and replaced by a larger house. A neighbor says Cheiker, now in her 90s, who reappeared in Maine, contends she never sold the house. ( Credit: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
For decades, Sarah Cheiker lived on Edinburgh Avenue in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district. After she disappeared in 2008, her bungalow was sold, razed and replaced by a larger house. A neighbor says Cheiker, now in her 90s, who reappeared in Maine, contends she never sold the house. ( Credit: Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)