Irvine Man, 36, Vanishes From Woodbridge Home Without Phone or Wallet

A 36-year-old Irvine man has been missing for more than a week after walking away from his Woodbridge home in the middle of the night without his wallet, his cell phone, or a vehicle. Michael Mazouz Fawzy Boles was last seen leaving his residence in the Woodbridge community around 1 a.m. on August 15, and police are now asking the public for help finding him.

According to the Irvine Police Department, Boles left home that night without any of the items most people would grab before stepping outside — no phone to call for help, no wallet for identification or money, and no car to get around. Investigators say he is believed to be on foot, without a vehicle, which narrows the search to the area immediately around his home and the neighborhood's extensive walking network.

Woodbridge is not a small subdivision. The 1,700-acre master-planned community is built around two lakes, the 30.7-acre North Lake and the 24.4-acre South Lake, linked by a 2.3-mile network of public bicycle and walking trails stretching from I-405 to Irvine Center Drive, according to Julie Tran Real Estate. That sprawling trail system gives searchers a lot of ground to cover for someone traveling on foot, and it underscores why investigators are leaning on the public for leads rather than vehicle-based tracking tools.

Why the Search Relies on Tips, Not License Plates

Irvine Police typically deploy an Automated License Plate Reader system across patrol cars and fixed locations citywide to help locate missing people and wanted vehicles, per the Irvine Police Department. But with Boles believed to be without a car, that technology is largely sidelined in this case, shifting the department's focus toward neighborhood canvassing and calls from residents who may have seen him.

Anyone with information about Boles's whereabouts is asked to contact Irvine Police through its non-emergency dispatch line at 949-724-7200 or its main department line at 949-724-7000, both maintained by the city as public contact channels for missing person tips. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Orange County Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS or visiting occrimestoppers.org, an option the Orange County Sheriff's Department offers for sensitive leads that residents may not want to report directly.

What California Law Requires — And What's Still Unknown

California law does not allow police departments to make people wait before filing a missing person report. Penal Code Section 14211 requires agencies to accept missing person reports immediately and to give priority dispatch to such calls regardless of the person's age, according to Justia Law's summary of the statute — a legal safeguard meant to head off the common misconception that police need someone to be gone 24 hours before acting.

If a missing adult is determined to be at risk, state law also requires the investigating agency to transmit that report to the California Department of Justice's Violent Crime Information Center within two hours, per a synopsis compiled by the Oakland Police Department's Ad Hoc Committee on missing persons. Separately, adults between 18 and 64 who don't qualify for a Silver Alert can be the subject of an Endangered Missing Advisory under Penal Code sections 14211 and 14212. It remains unclear whether Irvine Police have classified Boles as at-risk or issued any such advisory in his case, and the department's public post did not address why 11 days passed between his disappearance and the public appeal for help.

It's also not known whether surveillance cameras or witnesses along Woodbridge's lakes or trail network captured any sign of Boles after he left home. Statewide, regional analysis of California Department of Justice data suggests roughly 70% of missing persons are located or return on their own within 48 to 72 hours, a Hoodline review of that data found — a window that has already passed several times over in Boles's case.

A City Familiar With Public Appeals

This isn't the first time Irvine Police have turned to the public in a missing person case. In December 2019, the department issued a similar appeal seeking help locating a 34-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter who had disappeared from their Irvine home, according to CBS Los Angeles. Incorporated in 1971, Irvine covers 65.6 square miles of Orange County and had an estimated population of 318,764 as of July 2025, per U.S. Census Bureau figures — a large enough city that investigators are counting on residents across multiple neighborhoods to help close the gaps in what happened to Boles.