Steven Lombard, a resident of Merced, California, was last seen on December 17, 1993, when he left his home to pick up his paycheck and do some Christmas shopping at a towing yard on Yosemite Park Way. Lombard, who worked as a tow truck driver for RTS Towing, did make it to work, but was unable to collect his paycheck due to a clerical error. After work, he never returned home to meet his wife and has not been heard from since.

At the time of his disappearance, Lombard lived on Langtry Avenue, northwest of Merced, and had a hobby of panning for gold in Mariposa County. Two hours before Lombard went missing, his co-worker, Paul Armstrong, also disappeared from his home in Merced. Armstrong and Lombard were both tow truck drivers for RTS Towing, but were not known to be close and had no reason to have gone anywhere together. It is still unknown whether the two cases are related.

Following Lombard's disappearance, his maroon and white 1965 Ford F-250 pickup truck was discovered abandoned in a K-Mart parking lot in south Merced. The vehicle's keys were inside, a cup of coffee was found on the console, the windows were rolled down, and the door was left unlocked, which was unusual for Lombard.

Both Armstrong and Lombard are considered missing under suspicious circumstances, and their cases are being investigated as homicides. Armstrong reportedly believed that his coworkers were involved in illegal activities at the time of his disappearance, while Lombard had a dispute with his boss on the day he vanished. Despite investigations, both cases remain unsolved.