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(NewsNation) — Newly released video footage gives more insight into the mind of a California engineering student who dropped off the grid four years ago.

Dane Elkins disappeared during the Christmas season, his car and belongings found alongside a mountain highway.

His last social media post and footage from the day he disappeared showed Elkins displaying signs of paranoia.

His mother, Deborah Elkins, said the messages included her son talking about the CIA.

“He did one last Snapchat and told us that the government was after him and our family,” she said.

Dane Elkins was a racquetball champion and engineering student

Before he disappeared, Dane Elkins was a 21-year-old engineering student at the University of California Santa Cruz. He also had a black belt in karate and was a racquetball champion who won 23 junior national titles.

Off the court, he was the funny guy who made silly music videos with his siblings.

“His family meant everything to him. He never missed a birthday party, a celebration,” Deborah Elkins said. “They weren’t just his siblings; they were all his best friends.”

His younger brother is following in his footsteps as a championship racquetball player and hopes he’ll be able to play with his sibling again.

Dane Elkins’ mental health

But for Dane Elkins, things changed during the pandemic. As people were forced into seclusion to stay safe, Deborah Elkins began noticing a change in her son.

“He would be laying in his bed all day, and then he would disappear into the night,” she said. “I would ask him, ‘Where were you,’ and he wouldn’t have much of an answer.”

At one point, she said he told the family he was staying with friends but was actually living out of his car.

Research suggests that this type of mental health issue may be more common since the pandemic.

Bethany Yeiser runs a nonprofit that helps people with schizophrenia, one she started after her own psychotic episode that led to her living homeless for four years.

“I had a wonderful childhood growing up with a loving family, and I completely cut them off. I really believe if I hadn’t been hospitalized for schizophrenia, I would have never gotten in touch with them again,” she said.

Dane Elkins disappears

On Dec. 21, 2020, Dane Elkins called his mother from the highway and said it wasn’t safe to come home.

“One of the last things Dane said to me was, ‘It’s not safe mom, your life is in danger mom, there’s targets on you and there’s more targets on dad,'” Deborah Elkins said.

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Police found Dane Elkins’ car along a mountainous section of highway with a flat tire, his wallet, cell phone and computer still inside.

Deborah Elkins believes he was afraid of being tracked by the government and left traceable items behind.

Searching for Dane Elkins

In Dane Elkins’ case, there have been some reported sightings in California, including one where a woman said she bought him food at a Taco Bell in Oakdale.

In another sighting in April 2022, a mother and son were approached by a man who looked like Elkins on the Santa Cruz wharf.

Deborah Elkins is sure it was her son. While he has been missing, she’s been building her social media following in hopes of reaching people who may know where he is.

Deborah Elkins is asking the public not to call her son by name if they see him because it could trigger his paranoia.

Instead, she hopes people will be kind and offer food, then call the family at (562) 504-6005 to let the family know where they saw him.