By Jenny Kirchner, Reporter/Photographer and
Melissa Diaz Hernandez, Editor
The newspaper has been looking into missing person cases in and around the Idyllwild area from the past. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) website includes “Missing Persons by Year.”
The webpage reads: “The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department will investigate all persons reported missing until the person is found or determined to be a voluntarily missing adult.”
Under 1990s, the website lists Travis Zwieg, who went missing from Pinyon Pines on March 10, 1993. Travis went missing about one month before his sixth birthday.
The most recent missing person case on the webpage is from 2016. The newspaper asked RCSD’s media information bureau when the information would be updated.
The newspaper did not receive a response by press time.
The newspaper has been asking for updates since early summer with very little information provided.
As the one-year mark of the disappearance of Roy Prifogle approaches with no new information and five people still missing, is it time for the community to push the RCSD to do more?
Five people remain missing
Eight people have gone missing in the area since March of last year and five remain missing.
On Sept. 10, an 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.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TODD GILLILAND
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 four missing people. Friends, family and the community have been left in the dark.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
Rosario 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.
Photo courtesy of Kendra Johnson
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. Lydia “Dia” 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.
Photo courtesy of Lydia ‘Dia’ Abrams
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.
The most recent woman to go missing from the Hemet/San Jacinto area is 27-year-old Diana Perez Gonzalez who was reported missing Dec. 11. According to family, Gonzalez visited the Idyllwild area regularly. She was last seen by her boyfriend.
Photo by Diana Perez Gonzalez
Christy Rojas, Gonzalez’s sister, and her family are struggling with her sister missing.
Rojas said, “We’ve been terribly sad. We think about her every day and have dreams of her, waiting for any sign or a miracle because we miss her and love her a lot. But the most important, her baby needs her. We can see the sadness in her eyes. Although she can’t speak, we know she misses her mom.” Gonzalez is also pregnant.
If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Roy Prifogle, Lydia “Dia” Abrams, Rosario Garcia, Diana Perez Gonzalez or Melissa Lane, contact the RCSD at 800-950-2444.
