Amnesiac Lawyer Back Home Rebuilding Life

Feb. 20, 2006 — -- Susan Power had spent half a year trying to find her brother after he vanished with little trace on his way to work.

But last week, Raymond Power Jr., a suburban New York lawyer, turned up in a Chicago homeless shelter. He had amnesia and didn't know who he was.

Susan Power flew to Chicago to bring her brother back home.

"It was just unbelievable, just seeing him," Power said. "It was my brother and he looked at me and had no idea who I was. But I said, 'I'm sorry this stranger is hugging you, but I've been waiting seven months to do this.' "

Power is now back in a New York suburb and trying to get back to the life he says he lost for six months because of amnesia.

The husband, father and successful lawyer was last seen heading to work on Aug. 1. He said goodbye to his wife and children before leaving his Westchester County home, north of New York City, and heading to his law office in nearby White Plains.

His family says cameras captured him pulling into his normal parking spot at work. Seconds later, the car pulled out again.

He would eventually show up at a Chicago church. His credit cards had been used at gas stations along the way.

But Raymond Power had no identification, and no idea who he was.

"Basically, it was like I didn't exist," he says now.