HOUSTON -- The abandoned car of a Rice University student who went missing in December has been found in California, cluttered with books and notes on how to assume a new identity.

Rice University

The material was discovered mid-June in the car on a residential street in Berkeley, Calif., registered to Matthew J. Wilson, a 21-year-old computer science major from Haworth, Okla.

“There was literature in the vehicle which discusses how somebody would go about pursuing a new identification or persona,” Berkley police spokesman Andrew Frankel told the Houston Chronicle in Wednesday’s editions. “His prints were on everything.”

Other items in the car included a book on how to live cheaply in nearby San Francisco, a can of beans, rice and instant noodle soup.  Frankel said he wasn’t going to speculate on what the items mean, but the car is no longer considered evidence.

Wilson was last seen by his roommate at their off-campus apartment Dec. 14, five days before the deadline to turn in take-home exams. He was pre-registered for the spring semester at the Houston school.

Before his disappearance, Wilson withdrew $500 from his checking account and bought charcoal, matches, a car cover and window shade, police have said.

Rice announced in January it would offer a $10,000 reward for information leading to Wilson.