Casey Kasem Missing: Where Could American Top 40 Host Be?

Casey Kasem is missing, and has been for a week now. Casey Kasem, best known as the voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo and for “counting down the hits” on American Top 40, one of the most popular radio shows of the ’70s and ’80s, has been missing since May 6. The 82-year old, who was last seen in a Santa Monica hospital during a visit by his children, suffers from Parkinson’s disease.

The former radio DJ, who is worth around $80 million according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, has been the object of recent court battles between his second (and current) wife, Jean Kasem – an actress best known for her role as trophy wife Loretta Tortelli on Cheers – and his children. The Hollywood Reporter reports that family members blame wife Jill for Kasem’s disappearance.

Casey’s first wife Linda Myers Naylor had this to say about Jean Kasem and the way she has handled the American Top 40 DJ’s battle with Parkinson’s disease:

“No one was allowed to visit. Jean visited once in a while on the weekend. The kids got to see their dad (finally, on May 6); he (Casey) mouthed, ‘I love you.’ Then his wife went in that night, dumped him into a car and took him away. He had an IV plus a stomach feeding tube.”

Jean’s lawyer claims he doesn’t know where Casey Kasem is, but has suggested that he is out of the country.

Daughter Kerri Kasem, who had been fighting with Jean over visitation rights, had this to say, according to a New York Daily News report:

“We’re going to find him, take care of him and love him. He’s going to be with family, not stuck in some unfamiliar place where he’s dying alone. I’m just praying to God she hasn’t hurt him. He’s very ill and fragile right now. He would need an airplane with special medical services.”

According to the New York Daily News report, Kerri believes her father is in Canada or an Indian reservation in Washington, based on conversations she overheard.

The family has been battling in court for some time, with the latest developments favoring Kasem’s children. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Murphy recently gave Kerri conservatorship over the ailing American Top 40 DJ and expressed concerns about Jean’s lawyer’s denial of knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing Casey Kasem. Yesterday (Monday), Murphy ordered an investigator to track down the missing Casey Kasem.