I can speak from experience here from dealing with elderly parents and in-laws. I've been in your exact situation.

It is possible that the gentleman actually redeemed the CD 15 years ago, but now does not remember that fact and is "looking for his money".

As our loved ones age, they forget about the things they did when they were 100% and no one else (meaning us kids) was looking over their shoulder. Remember someone elderly today, was not so elderly 15 years ago.

Another interesting item I've experienced is finding stock certificates when going through my grandparents papers. We all got very excited (no, they weren't AT&T) and started tracking them down. After weeks of research, we discovered that they were from a company that no longer existed and were more worthless than wallpaper. My grandfather kept them as a reminder to be more prudent in his stock purchases.

Good luck, maybe the gentleman cashed the CD and put the cash under the mattress.

We had a similar situation with my Grandmother. She is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, so we started to get all of her financial affairs in order. My dad is her POA and started tracking down old accounts and CD’s. Her bank, too, had changed hands a few times, but she was adamant that she still had a CD with them They were nice enough to do some research (unfortunately, I am not sure how - microfiche perhaps) and were able to determine that 5+ years ago she cashed it in and deposited it (all $30,000) into checking. It has long since been spent.

I am not saying that this is in any way the same as the poster’s situation. But I am trying to encourage to you (the original poster) to not give up. Perhaps there is more that the bank can do for you or more advice that they can offer.

Thanks for the advice. My father-in-law was told this CD was an automatically renewing CD. He just assumed when he no longer got statments that it was renewing and nothing needed to be done. He did not take the money out of the bank. He wanted to save it for when he had retired and would need the money.I guess the moral of the story is...don't trust others, especially with your money.

Another thought to consider is the fact you mentioned it was an IRA Certificate. If this were the case and he is passed 70 1/2 years of age (maybe back around 1989 or so??), it is possible the bank was paying out his required annual distribution. This could have depleated the funds (maybe rapidly depending on the size of the investment). Just another avenue to consider...