He is a stranger to himself. The police call him Al, so at least he has a name, even if he knows it isn’t his own.
Al’s earliest memory takes him to the morning of Sept. 10, when he woke up on the sidewalk in front of the World Trade Center on Broadway and 16th Street in downtown Denver.
Everything before that moment is black.
Al has no idea where he is from. Mental health experts have verified he is suffering from retrograde amnesia.
On Friday, Al spoke publicly for the first time at Denver police headquarters downtown. Authorities are hoping that someone will recognize him and be able to help him piece together his past.
“I feel totally lost,” he said. “I feel totally alone, very depressed, very anxious about everything.”
When Al awoke back in September, he wandered around for hours looking for a hospital. He finally found Denver Health Medical Center where he was admitted.
Doctors found no evidence of physical injury or drugs or alcohol in his system.
Al wasn’t carrying a wallet; the only items in his pockets were a cigarette lighter and $8 in cash. Police ran his fingerprints through FBI databases, but no matches were found. He is thought to be between 35 and 40 years old.
As Al nervously addressed the throng of reporters and TV cameras, his hands shook, and his voice wavered. He was wearing the same ring, watch, yellow baseball cap and glasses that he was wearing when he was admitted to Denver Health.
Denver police Detective Virginia Quiñones sought to dispel any impression that Al might be faking his amnesia. “This isn’t an act. It has been confirmed,” she said. “This is truly a medical condition.”
A person with retrograde amnesia cannot remember events before the onset of amnesia. The condition can be caused by a traumatic psychological event, a blow to the head, brain swelling, a stroke or a brain tumor. Treatment depends on the root cause and is usually handled case by case. If the amnesia results from psychological stress, people may gradually regain their memory.
Although Al remembers how to read and write, he says he has no recollection of current events, much less how he ended up in Denver. However, he says his memory of events since Sept. 10 is “crystal clear.”
During hypnosis therapy and an interview conducted using a “truth serum” sedative, clues emerged that suggest he may have had a wife and two children who were all killed by a drunken driver in April, Al said. The accident is thought to have taken place in the New York area, where Al may have worked as an artist.
Denver police are contacting departments in other states for information on such an accident that may help identify Al. Police have unsuccessfully tried to trace where his watch and ring were purchased.
Al has made a couple of sketches of the Denver skyline from the psychiatric hospital where he is staying. Several people remarked to him that he has talent, making him think perhaps he was an artist before he lost his memory.
When asked what he sees when he looks in the mirror, Al responded: “I just see someone who’s lost. I don’t know who I am or what kind of person I am.”
Al hopes the publicity will help him identify his family and friends.
“I want my past. I want who I was. I don’t care about anything else.”
Staff writer Katharine Bernuth can be reached at 303-954-1762 or kbernuth@denverpost.com.
