William Henry Payne: MIssing

William Henry Payne was born 26 Feb 1855 in Missouri, to Elijah Francis Payne (1822-1865) & Sarah Ann Cochran (1826-1902).

Henry went missing on 23 Dec 1908 from his home in Vacaville, CA. His wife notified the police and this poster was passed through the sheriff office.

He was declared dead in April of 1910 a body was found in the Sacramento River and there was a trinket in the pocket that William's wife Lucy said was his, but there was one newspaper article that claimed the body wasn't his and a man had talked to William in San Francisco.

I found the following newspaper articles

all from 1909

I found these two articles this first one from San Francisco 1910

Here's the link for the one above I know it's hard to read.

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99298618/william-h-payne/

What are your thoughts? Was he in the river or did he walk away from his family?

Just for clarification, think about this, depending on his death date, he would of been in the river from December 1908 and then found in April 1910, his body would of been so decomposed he would not of been identifiable, plus his clothing would of been rags. I am not real sure, I have doubts.

Was there foul play in this case? What was his family life like?

I found some photo's that may answer some questions