Crime & Justice

Man Found Behind Burger King Had No Identity for 21 Years

The Why Files · Parallel Universes Are Real — And People Fall Into Them · June 6, 2026

The Why Files

Parallel Universes Are Real — And People Fall Into Them

"For 21 years, 1983 to 2004, a stretch where William Powell simply isn't anywhere. No job, no address, no record. Not one witness who can place him."

William Burgess Powell, discovered naked and near death behind a Burger King in 2004 with total amnesia, lived 11 years without legal identity before DNA genealogy revealed his name. Investigators later uncovered a suspicious 21-year gap in his records from 1983 to 2004, with no employment, address, or documentation. A 2026 documentary alleged he may have worked for organized crime or intelligence agencies and that his amnesia may have been fabricated.

About this episode

This episode of The Y-Files, hosted by AJ, presents three campfire-style paranormal stories described as true and unsolved mysteries involving reality shifts and missing identities. The most newsworthy segment covers the case of William Burgess Powell, also known as Benjamin Kyle, who was discovered naked and amnesiac behind a Burger King in Georgia in 2004. For 11 years he could not legally prove his existence until DNA genealogy identified him in 2015. The episode reveals that a 2026 documentary alleged Powell may have faked his amnesia and worked for organized crime or intelligence agencies before vanishing in 1976, evidenced by a forensically wiped computer and searches for Colorado cold case murders. His former associate expressed fear of him, and Powell disappeared again in 2016 after the documentary aired. The episode also covers Lorena García Gordo, a Spanish woman who posted online in 2008 claiming she woke in a parallel universe where her boyfriend and over 100 memories never existed, and Carol McKelvey, who in 2006 reported driving into an empty, alternate version of her California hometown populated by inhuman entities. AJ presents these as unsolved mysteries without debunking or analysis, inviting audience feedback on expanding them into full episodes.

Key takeaways

William Powell was found with total amnesia in 2004 and lived 11 years legally non-existent until DNA identified him in 2015.
A 2026 documentary alleged Powell worked for intelligence or organized crime and faked his amnesia after finding forensically wiped computers.
Powell has a mysterious 21-year gap from 1983 to 2004 with no employment records, addresses, or documentation anywhere in the United States.
His former coworker from 1976 stated he was afraid of Powell and refused to discuss their relationship further.
Lorena García Gordo documented over 100 reality discrepancies in 2008, including a boyfriend no one else remembered and a sister's surgery that never happened.
Carol McKelvey reported encountering inhuman entities in an empty parallel Riverside, California in 2006 after smelling her dead grandfather's cigar smoke.
All three cases remain unsolved with no definitive explanations, presented as campfire stories without analysis or debunking.