The family of 23-year-old Ryann Bunnell Crow, the Prunedale
woman who went missing Jan. 30, asked for
”
positive energy
”
from about 70 volunteers who embarked on an all-day search
Saturday in the area around Kirby Park, including parts of Elkhorn
Slough.
By Dennis Taylor
The family of 23-year-old Ryann Bunnell Crow, the Prunedale woman who went missing Jan. 30, asked for “positive energy” from about 70 volunteers who embarked on an all-day search Saturday in the area around Kirby Park, including parts of Elkhorn Slough.
Family and friends, some of whom came from the Bay Area, did their best to mix optimism with the unspeakable as they walked in groups of two or three along roadside ditches, through knee-high grasslands, and over jeep trails in search of any sign of Crow.
But after two weeks without a trace, the worst-possible scenario isn’t completely absent from the conversation.
“The turnout today is awesome,” said Rod Bunnell, Ryann’s father. “Most of these people are from our church, or friends or family. I know my daughter’s got a big grin on her face up there right now.”
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department and Monterey County Search and Rescue used Kirby Park as a staging area Saturday, and served as advisers for the volunteers, but conducted a separate search.
Crow was reported missing Feb. 2 after she failed to show up for work at Swenson & Silacci Flowers in Salinas for two days in a row. Her employer told police that she was talking about attending her father’s birthday celebration Jan. 30, the night she disappeared. She never made it to the party. Police located her white, 2002 Chevy Malibu on Wednesday, but haven’t disclosed where they found it.
“I can honestly say that we’re satisfied with the job that law
enforcement is doing in the search for Ryann,” her father said. “They’ve come a long way in a short amount of time. Obviously there’s some information we can’t give out, but I can say that they’re doing a great job.”
Shelley Bunnell, Ryann’s sister, and Teresa Bunnell, her stepmother, implored volunteers to look for the peace-sign earrings and bracelets she was wearing the day she disappeared, as well as her black-and-grey Ed Hardy purse and any of her clothing (white-and-gray striped sweater, blue jeans, white DC tennis shoes.) Searchers were asked to look for footprints or fresh tire tracks in unusual locations.
“We chose this location today because it’s within the 15-mile radius of Prunedale (where Ryann lived). We’re just thinking it might be an obvious place that she might have been driving that night,” said Pam Pipitone, the mother of the missing woman.
“I’m overwhelmed by the amount of volunteers who came out today — people I haven’t seen in ages,” Pipitone said. “They’re here from Alameda and San Leandro. There are people here who went to high school with me in Mountain View, as well as a lot of people from my work place.”
Crow, a 2004 graduate of Everett Alvarez High, was studying at Cabrillo College to become an X-ray technician, but left school last year after meeting and marrying Jesse Crow.
The Prunedale home she shared with Crow, 33, was raided Feb. 2 by Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies, who said they found 303 marijuana plants growing in an indoor garden, using a hydroponic system. The home’s electric meter had been bypassed, police said.
Jesse Crow could face a charge of grand theft for allegedly bypassing the meter, along with a drug charge for alleged marijuana cultivation, although he possessed a medical marijuana card.
He has not been named as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, but Rod Bunnell said Saturday that Crow hasn’t participated in any of the searches. Crow was not present at Kirby Park on Saturday.
“I haven’t seen him, haven’t talked to him, and don’t really care to,” Bunnell said. “We’ll just go about it on our own. And we will find her.”
