Mail Tribune News - Woman, 75 missing for days

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

1999-10-03

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Photo by Bob Pennell Jackson and Josephine county search and rescue volunteers load up Friday after searching on the end of Evans Creek Road for a 75-year-old woman. They plan to search again today. Woman, 75 missing for days Car discovered; no sign of foul play, police say Searchers are looking for a White City woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease whose abandoned car was found Thursday. Mary Ann Lehre, 75, has been missing for at least several days and may have been missing for as long as three weeks, according to the Oregon State Police. State police cadet Charles Altishin found Lehre's unlocked, snow-covered white Ford Escort Thursday morning on East Evans Creek Road, northwest of Sams Valley. Police then went to Lehre's home on Antelope Road, where they found her unattended cat, OSP Lt. Terry Simons said Friday. Although police checked with friends, neighbors and relatives, they couldn't locate Lehre. Searchers began looking for Lehre about 10:30 p.m. Thursday near where her car was found. Simons didn't know where the woman had been heading, but said he'd been told she likes to hike and camp. The lieutenant said there's no indication of foul play. It appears Lehre's car became high-centered in ruts in the dirt road, said Ken Rosenbaum of Jackson County Search and Rescue. A rock and a log were found under the front wheel, in what looks like an effort to get the car unstuck. Friday's search yielded no clues about what's happened to the woman. "We haven't even picked up a scent up here," Rosenbaum said before searchers halted their efforts for the day just before 5 p.m. Searchers from both Jackson and Josephine search and rescue did a "grid search," standing 10 to 15 feet apart and combing the ground. Two dogs and a helicopter also searched the area. The search is expected to resume around 7 a.m. today. Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA