Vallejo Man With Missing Memory Reunited With Family After CBS13 Story

VALLEJO (CBS13) — He searched for his identity for years.

Now, a Vallejo man missing his memory is finally reunited with his family.

When CBS13 first told you about Vincent Bordeaux in December, his family happened to be watching. They say it's only because of our story that they found him.

For nearly three years, Bordeaux struggled with the most basic of questions—who is he? Where is his family? Did he really come from the East Coast as he so vividly remembers?

We have the answers, though everything has changed, right down to his first name.

"We've never had this happen in our shelter," said Norma Ramos with the Christian Life Center. "This is something we have prayed about for a long time.

In one of the stranger stories we've come across, Vincent Bordeaux has an answer to his prayers.

"I was totally dumbfounded," he said.

His family recognized him from our report on the man with a missing memory. The director of a Vallejo shelter where Vincent lives and works took the phone call.

"They jumped out of their seats, and said it looks like it might be Vincent!" said Ramos.

Bordeaux says reuniting with them is a true blessing, but ironically his true identity feels very foreign.

"It's been a real unusual odyssey," he said.

What he now knows about himself has shaken him to his core.

"When I met the relative who found me, I said, 'I don't even know who you are,'" he said.

His loved ones are more like strangers to him. They did a DNA test to make sure they're related.

"I feel sorry for the relatives, because they have their memories, and they go one way, but my memories go another way," he said.

Everything he thought was real, all of his vivid memories growing up on the East Coast never actually happened.

His family told the shelter he's from the Bay Area and has never left the state of California.

And, as you may have guessed, Vincent Bordeaux isn't even his real name. It's still unclear how exactly he ended up at the shelter, his memories still are locked away.

"I just keep thinking about the photos but nothing seems to click," he said.

He has the answers he so desperately sought as he embarks on a new journey on the path to self-discovery.

He's thankful he now has a driver's license and a Social Security card so he can start applying for aid and jobs.

He hopes with some help, he'll be able to start remembering things, and before too long, move out of the shelter and get a place of his own.