With the number of missing people in the Idyllwild area this year, Melissa Lane was one of the youngest to go missing. Lane, 41, was last seen on June 15. Her mother Kathy Lamont has been one of many who have missed her during the last six months.

Lamont spoke to the Town Crier late last month about her thoughts and feelings not only about her missing daughter but all the other missing people.

“I love my daughter so much and I’ve been praying for the other three families,” Lamont said. “My heart tells me there is foul play somewhere.”
They say time heals, but for the families of these missing people, time seems to be the enemy. The longer their loved ones are missing, the less hope there is in finding them alive. More and more questions arise, leaving people like Lamont wondering what has happened.

Lamont expressed her frustration about the lack of communication from law enforcement.

“If I had to give an ‘A’ to ‘F’ on communication, I would give an ‘F’ for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department [RCSD],” Lamont said. “They don’t have to give any evidence to the public but it would be nice for them to communicate a little bit to show they care about the Idyllwild situation and the people because if there is a perpetrator, they’re still out there.”

Idyllwild local and Lane‘s cousin, Todd Gilliland, is very close to Lane and was the last person to see her. He has been very open and honest since the beginning about how hard this process has been.

“I miss her a lot,” Gilliland said. “I wish we would get some kind of word about her. It’s nerve-wracking. They [RCSD] have interviewed me once when she was reported missing and haven’t talked to me since. I was the last one to see her. You would think they’d want to go over it with me again.”

According to Lamont, the RCSD last searched in early September with cadaver dogs on Black Mountain Trail, north of Pine Cove, where Lane was last seen. The search came back with nothing.

“With such a small community and so many investigators, you would think they would have something,” Lamont said. “It blows my mind. I feel like you get tortured twice. First, you lose your loved one, and then, you get no representation. It’s really heartbreaking.”

With no information and time continuing to pass, Lamont has been proactive, warning people to be smart and aware of their surroundings while out on the trails in the hopes of preventing more people from going missing, expressing how important it is to hike with a group and not to go hiking alone.

“I think there is somebody who did this,” Lamont said. “Whether my daughter is alive or not, or if she made it off the mountain, I don’t know. Whether her body is dead up on a trail, if somebody dumped her, or she got buried in somebody’s yard, I don’t know what happened to her and that’s what I have to live with now. That’s where my heart is at. The suffering is incredible and I know the other families are suffering, too.”

Three people in addition to Lane remain missing
Seven people have gone missing in the area since March of this year. Four of the seven people, including Lane, remain missing. RCSD media information bureau responded to the newspaper’s weekly inquiry Friday as to whether or not the agency had any updates.

“At this time, we do not have any update on our missing persons. We still ask for assistance in locating them. Please advise the public to contact the Hemet Sheriff’s Department if they have any information on any of our missing persons,” Sgt. Deanna Pecoraro wrote.

Lydia “Dia” Abrams, Roy Prifogle, Melissa Lane and Rosario Garcia remain missing.

The newspaper has been asking for updates weekly since early summer.
On Sept. 10, a RCSD SUV was spotted hauling an off-road vehicle near Highway 243 and Saunders Meadow Road.

According to Hemet Sheriff Station Capt. Leonard Purvis, “They were conducting follow-up searches for Melissa Lane.”

While it was unclear exactly where on the mountain deputies were searching for Lane, Purvis also confirmed that the search didn’t provide any further information or evidence of where Lane may have gone missing. That is an update the media information bureau could have provided.

Lane, 41, was last seen June 15, according to a poster that was displayed in the Mountain Center area. The Town Crier spoke to Kathy Lamont, Lane’s mother, right after she was reported missing.

“She was an avid hiker but didn’t have a destination,” Lamont said. “She was last seen in Pine Cove. I don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”

Outside of the search for Lane, the community has not received any updates on the other three missing people. Friends, family and the community have been left in the dark.

Garcia was last seen July 7 wearing a brown shirt and blue jeans in Hemet. Garcia is a 73-year-old Hispanic female and suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. She is 5’ 3” tall and 120 pounds.

Palm Desert deputies from the RCSD were dispatched to the area of 70000 East Highway 74 in Pinyon Pines at 11:46 a.m. July 9 after Garcia’s vehicle was found unoccupied. Garcia was not located after a search of the area was conducted.

Earlier in the year, Prifogle was reported missing after going on a hike in the Pine Cove area Wednesday, March 4. He left home at about 1 p.m. and was last seen at the Pine Cove Market at 6:30 p.m. on the same day. He was last seen wearing a red backpack and jeans.

RCSD Deputy Jeremy Parsons said, “After six full days of searching in between inclement weather, searching 8 to 10 hours per day, Prifogle has not been located. The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU), as well as search and rescue volunteers from San Bernardino County, Orange County and San Diego County, were assisting. In total, about 150 people have been searching during those six days.” Also adding, “On the second or third day of the search, we found his backpack, but have found no other clues as to his whereabouts.”

On Sunday, June 7 at approximately 8:24 a.m., Hemet Station deputies were dispatched to the 58000 block of Bonita Vista in reference to a missing person. Abrams was placed into the system as a missing person.
Abrams is 65 years old, 5’ 5” tall, 130 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and turquoise jacket, yellow shirt and blue jeans.

According to RMRU, their team of volunteers was dispatched to Abrams’ 160-acre ranch in the Apple Canyon area (between Mountain Center and Garner Valley) June 9. They conducted a search from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no success of finding Abrams.

RMRU went out again June 10 to search more difficult areas on the property including a creek bed and the hills overlooking her ranch. All assignments were completed by 6 p.m. At that point, detectives took over the investigation and called off the physical ground search.

If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Roy Prifogle, Dia Abrams, Rosario Garcia or Melissa Lane, contact the RCSD at 800-950-2444.