Missing Persons Los Angeles County

A teenage girl who ran away from a San Diego residential center for troubled youths over the weekend called home Monday just as her parents prepared to offer a $100,000 reward to anyone helping to find her. Natalie Schneider, 14, called her grandmother in Agoura Hills from a Denny's restaurant in Pacific Beach, near San Diego, just before the news conference was to take place at 2 p.m., according to her family. She said she wanted to come home, her family said.

The Coast Guard suspended its search Saturday morning for the three people who went down in a helicopter crash in the ocean early Friday off the coast of Huntington Beach. Coast Guard Petty Officer Kerry Kingery said the chances of finding survivors from the crash were slim. Divers with the National Transportation Safety Board will continue later to search for the crash victims and debris.

Thirteen months ago, 73-year-old James Young went to Las Vegas for what was to be a short getaway and he still hasn't come home. Friends and neighbors feared for months that Young met with foul play. And it appears those fears are finally being taken seriously--the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau began investigating Young's disappearance earlier this month as a possible murder.

A La Mirada family is urging the public to help them find a missing diabetic man who suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Emelio A. Ramirez, 75, drove off about noon Saturday from his apartment in the 15800 block of Alicante Road, said Ramirez's daughter, Sylvia Zavala, 45. "He said [to his wife, Gregoria,] he was going outside to take out the trash and visit with friends downstairs," Zavala said. "Then, when she looked out, she realized the car was gone."

Police on Tuesday were searching for a mentally impaired San Pedro teen-ager who wandered away from home Christmas Eve, and has since told friends he is afraid he will get into trouble if he returns. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Lyle Prideaux said 16-year-old Rex Howard Ross lived at the military housing facility near Western Avenue and John Montgomery Drive.

A photographer arrested after an apparent suicide attempt at his Hollywood home was being questioned by detectives Wednesday night as a "possible suspect" in the disappearance last week of a 27-year-old calendar model from Hermosa Beach, police said. Lt. Mark Wright of the Hermosa Beach Police Department said investigators have reason to believe that the missing woman, Linda Sobek, "may be the victim of a homicide." Officials identified the suspect as Charles E. Rathbun, 38.

Police on Sunday recovered the abandoned car of a 39-year-old West Covina businesswoman who disappeared five days earlier. Janice Lo's silver 1995 Lexus 400 was found near East Stuart Avenue and South Azusa Road in West Covina, police said. But there was no sign of Lo or any evidence of what happened to her, said West Covina Det. Pete Mena. Lo was last seen Tuesday night when she drove away from her San Gabriel business, police said.

A corpse pulled from the California Aqueduct was identified Thursday as that of a 34-year-old woman who had been missing since early Sunday, authorities said. Fingerprints identified the body as Renee Elizabeth Mullins, who was a public relations specialist for an Antelope Valley orthodontist's office, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Debra Glaskides.

Dozens of people in the Santa Clarita community of Val Verde joined Thursday with sheriff's search-and-rescue parties to look for a real estate agent who vanished a day earlier. Paula Harrington, 26, disappeared after leaving her office Wednesday afternoon with an unidentified man who asked to see vacant, remote houses in the unincorporated community of 1,500. The area is off California 126 about five miles northwest of the Magic Mountain theme park.

Police are seeking help from the public to locate a disabled man who has been missing for 10 days. Michael Reid Davis, 49, was last heard from Aug. 10, when he called his family from Pacific Coast Highway and 1st Street about 10 p.m. He said he might have broken his arm and was in a lot of pain, Huntington Beach police said. Paramedics searched the area that night and found Davis' walker but could not locate him.

Sheriff's officials have called off the search for a sheriff's deputy, an experienced outdoorsman who disappeared a week ago after what was expected to be a daylong hike, authorities said. Jonathan Aujay, 38, a dog handler with the Sheriff's Department's Special Enforcement Bureau, has not been seen since Thursday, when he failed to return from a hiking trip to the Devil's Punchbowl.

Rescue crews on land and in the air intensified their search Sunday along rough terrain in the Angeles National Forest for a Palmdale sheriff's deputy known to be an experienced outdoorsman. Jonathan Aujay, 38--a dog handler with the Sheriff Department's Special Enforcement Bureau--has not been seen since Thursday, when he did not return from a daylong hiking trip to Devil's Punchbowl, said Sheriff's Deputy Cruz Solis.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were searching Saturday for a 28-year-old Lancaster man who has been missing since he withdrew $1,000 in cash from a savings and loan Wednesday morning. Lorne Frederickson was last seen dropping off his son at school and making the withdrawal at Downey Savings & Loan at 30th Street and West Avenue L at 9 a.m., according to Lt. Steve Fredericks. Frederickson was reported missing by his wife that evening.

A 10-year-old girl who ran away over the weekend has returned home, authorities said Tuesday. Montrece Johnson called her grandparents from a pay phone at a fast-food restaurant at 11:25 p.m. Monday and told them she wanted to come home, said sheriff's Lt. Rick McKeon. He said Johnson, who disappeared Sunday at 6:30 p.m., told her grandparents that she had spent Sunday night at the home of an elderly woman. McKeon said Johnson had just met the woman and could not remember where the woman lived.

Sheriff's detectives identified the body of a woman Friday found in the 18100 block of Dumont Avenue by passing motorists. Maria Arroyo, 30, of Norwalk was discovered on the side of the road at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Bailey said. Arroyo was last seen about 3:30 a.m. Thursday when she left her home near Firestone Boulevard and Studebaker Road and went for a bike ride. Her green mountain bike, her green bicycle helmet and a brown backpack are missing.

After a series of torrential rains in 1969, the west fork of San Dimas Creek became so swollen that it washed away a dozen cabins in the isolated settlement along its banks in the Angeles National Forest. "But we never lost a man," said Harold Jackson, 74, a retired firefighter who for 50 years has lived in one of the nearly 100 cabins along the creek. "We've lost pets up here, lost lots of stuff. But never lost a person. Not until now."

Authorities asked for the public's help Monday in finding a developmentally disabled man missing since Friday. Douglas Nichols, 24, weighs 160 pounds, is 6 feet 1 inch, has an average build, and has green eyes and blond hair, authorities said. He has always returned from his outings to the board and care facility where he lives, said Sam Suzuki, a regional manager with Lanterman Regional Center, a nonprofit group that contracts with group homes to care for mentally disabled people.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were searching Saturday for a 28-year-old Lancaster man who has been missing since he withdrew $1,000 in cash from a savings and loan Wednesday morning. Lorne Frederickson was last seen dropping off his son at school and making the withdrawal at Downey Savings & Loan at 30th Street and West Avenue L at 9 a.m., according to Lt. Steve Fredericks. Frederickson was reported missing by his wife that evening.

Authorities asked for the public's help Monday in finding a developmentally disabled man missing since Friday. Douglas Nichols, 24, weighs 160 pounds, is 6 feet 1 inch, has an average build, and has green eyes and blond hair, authorities said. He has always returned from his outings to the board and care facility where he lives, said Sam Suzuki, a regional manager with Lanterman Regional Center, a nonprofit group that contracts with group homes to care for mentally disabled people.

A teenage girl who ran away from a San Diego residential center for troubled youths over the weekend called home Monday just as her parents prepared to offer a $100,000 reward to anyone helping to find her. Natalie Schneider, 14, called her grandmother in Agoura Hills from a Denny's restaurant in Pacific Beach, near San Diego, just before the news conference was to take place at 2 p.m., according to her family. She said she wanted to come home, her family said.