Details surrounding the disappearance and resurfacing of a Los Angeles woman still remain unclear.
Laura Lynne Stacy was reunited with her family after she turned up on Highway 14 during a three-day extensive search stretching from Lancaster to Santa Clarita.
On Jan. 22, Stacy was reported missing to the Los Angeles Police Department, Public Information Officer Liliana Preciado confirmed.
The investigation moved from Los Angeles to Santa Clarita the next day after the woman’s cell phone was found Monday morning at Golden Valley Park in Canyon Country.
It still remains unclear who found the phone and why it was turned into the LAPD’s North Hollywood station and if the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station ever received the device.
Local deputies were given special instructions to report anyone matching the missing woman’s description and to generally keep watch for her, said station Sgt. Brian Shreves.
Missing person flyers were attached to light standards and restroom walls at Golden Valley Park. The flyers claimed the woman was last seen on Jan. 22 near the 3600 block of Barham Boulevard in Los Angeles, driving a 2005 black Acura TL with Colorado license plate No. of 597WFD.
The search into Stacy’s whereabouts shifted northeast from Santa Clarita to the Antelope Valley the next day. On Jan. 24, at about 11 p.m., someone reported an Acura TL sedan parked on the side of the road at Avenue E, west of 100th Street East. It was determined the vehicle matched Stacy’s license plate.
No information was released pertaining to the individual who made the report to the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station and if they were aware the car belonged to the missing woman.
Also, details about the car’s status were not made clear as it pertains to whether it was low on fuel or if any other obvious mechanical issues capable of contributing to the car being abandoned existed.
But we do know the vehicle was locked.
Detective Tim O’Quinn of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau revealed that information at a televised press conference.
“Nothing suspicious was seen in or around the vehicle,” he added.
The efforts of various volunteer search and rescue teams, including one from the Santa Clarita Valley were televised combing areas of Lancaster.
Shortly before 2:30 p.m., after a press conference, the woman turned up on the side of Highway 14 “walking toward Agua Dulce,” Los Angeles Police spokesman Officer Aareon Jefferson said.
A report of a person with possible exposure to heat or cold was then received by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, spokeswoman Vanessa Lozano said.
Units responding to the scene found a patient who was extremely dehydrated, Lozano said.
Further details about her condition were unknown, but she was transported to a local hospital and at some point reunited with her family.
It still remains unclear how and why Stacy was in Lancaster, or how she ended up so far from her car. Questions posed to the Los Angeles Police Department by email were not answered, because the case was still under investigation as of 12:52 p.m. Thursday.
