In a surprising development, Christian Irwin, the Topanga record producer who disappeared last Sunday under bizarre circumstances was found in relatively good physical condition Friday night not far from where he vanished.

He was found standing naked in a stream and washing a pair of pants. He was initially mistaken for a transient but then recognized as the missing producer. (Give credit to his sister who put “missing” posters up all through the area where he was found.) Christian was apparently suffering mental problems lending credence to the medical confusion theory of his disappearance.

“He was very delusional,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Ray Peavy said. “He obviously suffered some mental setbacks.” When authorities encountered him Friday, Irwin was “very upset and ranting and raving,” Peavy said. “He was still afraid that the Nigerians were there.”

Irwin was taken into custody because he was deemed mentally incompetent and possibly dangerous to himself, Peavy said. He was found at about 4:30 p.m. and agreed to go with police about two hours later after negotiations in which authorities, at Irwin’s request, located his sister to help calm him.

Peavy said Irwin demanded that his sister and brother-in-law be brought to him and insisted that he didn’t trust the police. His sister was brought to him, but when he failed to calm down he was taken into custody, Peavy said.

Family and acquaintances said Christian had never showed signs of mental illness or used drugs. He was found about a quarter-mile from the propane station from where he called his friend Sunday. He had survived the five days without food drinking water from a stream and apparently within earshot of where deputies had been looking for him the whole time.

Click here to access all of Independent Sources postings on the disappearance of Christian Irwin.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 27th, 2005 at 8:29 am by Insider and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.