Long-Lost Airman Will Be Held Pending Trial

RIVERSIDE — An Air Force sergeant who was arrested on suspicion of desertion five years after he disappeared and was declared dead will remain in jail pending trial, a military magistrate at March Air Force Base ruled Thursday.

Sgt. James Doug Pou, 32, vanished May 12, 1987, while taking a bicycle ride near his home at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

Investigators found Pou’s bike, wallet and a skid mark along a highway and concluded that he had been struck by a car and tossed into the Rio Grande.

Agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations arrested Pou last week in San Diego, where he was living under an alias. Military officials have released no other details about the case.

Pou, who left a wife and two sons when he disappeared, was a highly regarded instructor at the Air Force Para-Rescue School. He had performed many daring rescues around the world and his peers in the elite unit considered him an expert.

Pou has not been charged but is expected to face a court-martial on charges of desertion, said Capt. Julie Holland, a spokeswoman for March Air Force Base, where Pou is being held.