Authorities question man’s amnesia claim

Jen Lawson

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 9:32 a.m.

The wife of a North Las Vegas man who claimed he was stricken with amnesia after his truck plunged over a 240-foot cliff in California said Thursday she'll probably never know what happened to her husband. But authorities think they know.

The Feb. 6 accident that sent Donovan Lee Curtis' truck over a cliff at Devil's Slide south of Pacifica was apparently not the first time Curtis has lost his memory.

The morning of the accident last month, Curtis sent a cryptic text message to his wife, Dawn, saying he had been a victim of a carjacking and robbery.

Moments after that a witness saw a truck going over the cliff and a man matching Curtis' description running away from the crash area. Two weeks later he showed up at his home in North Las Vegas claiming to remember nothing.

He said he had been in a coma and was cared for by a benevolent doctor named Dave, who found Curtis dumped in his back yard in San Jose. The doctor then paid for Curtis' plane ticket home, Curtis told the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

The accident happened the day Curtis was scheduled to appear in Family Court in a case against him brought by Clark County Child Protective Services, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. No details were available on the case.

According to Metro Police, Curtis claimed to have lost his memory in 1992 after an employer's safe was ransacked. After telling detectives that thieves had hit him on the head, Curtis disappeared, then showed up in Los Angeles a few weeks later, California Highway Patrol spokesman Shawn Chase told the Chronicle.

Police were not able to gather enough evidence against Curtis to charge him in the 1992 case.

"Curious, isn't it?" Chase told the newspaper. "Obviously, he figured it worked once, so he thought he'd try it again."

This time, however, the CHP plans to file charges against Curtis. Investigators have concluded their investigation and forwarded the findings to the San Mateo County district attorney's office, the Chronicle reported.

"That's the first I'm hearing of it," Dawn Curtis said Thursday.

Initially, Curtis appeared unable to speak and communicated only through written notes, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. He has since regained his ability to speak, but claims he doesn't recognize his wife, children or parents.

Curtis is no longer living with her, Dawn Curtis said.

"He's staying with a friend because he doesn't remember me or his family," she said. "We'll probably never know what happened."