Where is Steven Bradley?

Episode # 74 - Steven Howard Bradley

[Shaun] 

In 2006, Steven Bradley, a Las Vegas husband and father, left for work and never came home. 

His car turned up 250 miles away, with no signs of a struggle and no sign of Steve. 

[John] 

Almost 19 years later, his family still has no answers about what happened to him. This case didn’t make headlines, but every missing person matters. This week, we are sharing his story. 

(Music - Pause for 8 seconds)

[Shaun] 

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence, as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I’m your host, Shaun

[John] 

And I’m your co-host, John

[Shaun] 

The last weekend of March, 2025, John and I spent at Advocacy Con, This year was the first year of this event which was started by 3 of our colleagues who are absolute powerhouses in ethical true crime: Eric Carter Landin, President of Angels Voices Silenced No More and host of True Consequences, and Whitney St Andre and Melissa Leinweber, the hosts of Navigating Advocacy. 

The purpose of Advocacy Con is to build a community where families of the missing and murdered can find unwavering support and strength within a united and compassionate environment.

The weekend was focused on these families, providing them with hope, resources, and critical information designed to help connect them with advocates who can help them, and they had the opportunity to learn skills and techniques to advocate for their missing or murdered loved ones. 

We learned that just being around people who have experienced the same type of loss you have experienced can give these families a tremendous amount of comfort. 

[John] 

On February 1, 2025, we also participated in “Missing In Nevada Day” here in Las Vegas, where local agencies came together to connect with people searching for loved ones with the hope of bringing them answers and offering them resources and support.

Both events gave us the opportunity to connect with families who are still searching for their loved ones and seeking justice and strengthened our commitment to one of the goals of our podcast – to help as many families as we can. 

There have been times in the past when we’ve struggled to share a story with all of you because we knew the episode would be short. 

The stories and cases were important, so we’d usually just combine two shorter stories into one episode, and, at the holidays, we combine 6 or 7 missing persons stories into one episode. 

We’ve reached the point now with the podcast where we’ve realized we don’t necessarily need to do that, and each of these families deserves their own episode, even if it is on the shorter side. 

[Shaun] 

We talked it over with some of our friends in ethical true crime, and we’ve decided that moving forward, we aren’t going to hesitate to bring you those stories, even if they are short episodes. 

We’ll likely have 1 or 2 episodes a month that are shorter than average, but they are every bit as important as any other story we share with all of you.

This will also allow us to get a case out to you faster, so if someone just recently went missing and the police and family are seeking the public’s help, we can turn that episode around for you all so we can help support families when cases are fresh. 

The story we have for you today will be one of those shorter episodes. 

It’s an older case that I have wanted to cover since we talked about the disappearance of Steven Koecher back in episode 35. 

Steven Howard Bradley disappeared in 2006, and nearly 20 years later, his wife and daughters still have no answers. 

[John] 

Steve Bradley wasn’t famous. His disappearance didn’t spark a media frenzy or national outrage. But he was loved. He mattered then, and he still matters. 

The people who loved him… his wife, his daughters, his friends , his brother.. They’ve lived nearly two decades without knowing what happened to him and having that empty chair at holidays and celebrations.

We reached out to Steven’s wife, Sonia, and she told us that Steven’s disappearance never got much media coverage, and we agree. But that isn’t going to stop us from telling you about Steven in hopes that someone has new information that can finally lead to answers for his family.

Steven was born on January 24, 1969. That would make him 56 years old today, but he disappeared when he was 37 years old. 

He went to high school in California, at Arroyo Grande High School. Arroyo Grande is located along the central coast of California… between San Francisco and LA. 

His high school friends said he was a “quiet guy,” and one friend wrote on the school’s Facebook page that to know Steven was to love him, and he was one of the good guys & always had a smile on his face. 

Steven and his wife Sonia have 2 daughters together who were very young when he disappeared, but now they are adults in their 20s. 

[Shaun] 

Steven worked for a company in Las Vegas called McIntosh Communications which is still in business here in Vegas, and they also have a location in Salt Lake City. They make security equipment and items like 2 way radios. 

On the morning of July 31, 2006, Steven left his house around 7:30 to head to work. Steven called his work that morning as he was driving to say that he was running late. 

On a typical day, he would pick up his daughters at school after work, but for whatever reason, on that day in July, he didn’t show up at their school. Sonia knew right away that something had to be wrong for him to not pick up the girls. He also hadn’t called her to say he wasn’t going to be able to get them. 

It was soon after that that Sonia discovered that Steven had never even made it to work that day. She contacted Metro police and filed a missing persons report. 

[John] 

Metro began their investigation and discovered that Steven was last seen at a drive-thru ATM at Tropicana and Jones between noon and 1 pm on July 31. A camera near the ATM picked up footage of him making a cash withdrawal.

The Namus information on Steven doesn’t say what bank, so we don’t have that information to share. Today there are multiple banks in that area, but we aren’t sure what drive-up ATMs were in that area 20 years ago, so we can’t offer any more details. 

We do know that it was Steven who was driving his Toyota 4Runner, and there’s been no report of anyone else being seen in the car with him. 

We don’t know why he wasn’t at work that morning or where he was between 7:30 AM and noon, but he was seen on the camera footage. I want to stress that to rule out any theories that Steven had been robbed or carjacked or that his car had been stolen before noon the day he disappeared. 

[Shaun] 

It’s important to note that because the day after Steven disappeared, on August 1, 2006, his car was found abandoned hundreds of miles away in Lake Elsinore, California, in the parking lot of a small strip mall on Grand Avenue. 

Lake Elisinore is about a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas. It’s located in Southern California, near Temecula, a city of about 73,000 people, so this wasn’t the “middle of nowhere” or as many things are described when it comes to Vegas crimes –  just “out in the middle of the desert”  — though I’m not sure how many listeners may have heard of Lake Elisnore before. 

When his car was found, the police launched an intensive search, using boats, aircraft, and dogs to try to find Steve. But sadly, there was no trace, and no leads or clues as to what had happened to him. 

I wasn’t able to find an official record of this, but there are some breadcrumbs online that indicate that Steven’s story was shared on America’s Most Wanted at some point, but I don’t know if it was shared on their website or as part of the TV show. I saw an old URL online, but the wayback machine did not archive that page. 

According to the Charley Project, the police suspect foul play in Steven’s case. I also read some rumors online that Steven may have gone to visit a friend who lived or lives in the area of Tropicana and Jones. I wanted to at least share that fact just in case anyone possibly has any leads or maybe even saw Steven in that neighborhood. 

So much time has passed, but we hold out hope that someone has a new lead for the police. 

[John] 

In 2021, his wife Sonia shared a brief update online about Steven and what her family has been dealing with.  

She said that her heart is broken for Steve’s parents, his brother and sister, and his extended family. 

She said, “My heart is also heavy raising our two beautiful daughters knowing Steve has missed every birthday, holiday, commencement and milestone. It is still incredibly difficult to accept we may never have answers or properly lay him to rest.”

She shared how her daughters had grown into resilient and independent young women who are working and going to college, but it’s been hard that Steve has missed out on so much of their lives. 

While Steve didn't attend college, he always hoped his girls would make that choice to go and there is no doubt he would be incredibly proud of both of them.

On the 15th anniversary of Steven’s disappearance, Sonia started a GoFundMe for the first time, with a very modest goal, to help raise money for college expenses for her daughters. It’s still active, and you can find that link in our show notes. 

While Sonia remains hopeful that someday her family will have answers, she has mentioned that Las Vegas metro does not currently have a detective that’s assigned to handle cold missing persons cases. She wrote that at the time Steve went missing, they had 14 detectives in Missing Persons and now they only have 5. 

It’s also worth noting how easy it is for a missing persons case to slip through the cracks. 

Disappearances like Steven’s are not rare. According to the National Crime Information Center, over 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. every year. Most are found, but thousands remain missing long-term, and many cases like Steven’s just quietly fade from the headlines or never get covered at all.

An average of 10 people are reported missing in Las Vegas every day, and Metro simply doesn’t have the resources to do any additional work on this case. 

[Shaun] 

When there’s no crime scene, no witnesses, no media attention, and especially when the missing person is an adult…. Disappearances don’t get the same attention from the public or law enforcement.

That’s why we do what we do. That’s why Advocacy Con was created. Because every person deserves to be searched for. Every family deserves answers. And every voice deserves to be heard, regardless of how long it’s been or how few details are available.

This is also why it’s so important that you share Steven’s info, especially if you live in Southern Nevada or Southern California. 

There is someone out there who holds the key to solving Steve’s disappearance, and your share could be the one that finally connects the dots. 

We can’t undo the pain that his loved ones are feeling, but we can keep Steven’s name out there. 

July 2025 will be 19 years since Steven disappeared. When he was last seen he was wearing a blue t-shirt, jean shorts, hiking boots, a beige baseball cap with the Corona beer logo on it, and a white gold wedding band. He was also carrying a gray or silver backpack and his HP laptop computer is also missing. 

He was driving a black 1999 Toyota 4Runner, which, as we said, has been recovered. 8

Steven is a white male, around 5’10, and weighing about 196 lbs. He has light brown hair and grfeen eyes. He has a scar on his ankle from a previous fracture, another scar on his hand, and a surgical scar from a hernia operation. He also has a flesh-colored mole above his eye. 

If you have any leads or any information at all about where Steven might be or what happened to him, please call Las Vegas Metro at (702) 828-3111. 

If you want to learn more about Advocacy Con visit advocacycon.com. You can sign up for their newsletter and get more information about the event.  

AdvocacyCon 2026, with the theme "Hope Rises," will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 11-13, 2026. If you are seeking justice for your missing or murdered loved one, we urge you to check it out. This year, families were offered scholarships to help them be able to attend the event, so please check it out. 

Thanks again for listening to Steven’s story and please share his information because what happens here, happens everywhere.