Tustin : Mother Asks Public Help in Search for Daughter

The mother of a mentally handicapped, diabetic woman who has been missing since Saturday has pleaded for public help in locating her 22-year-old daughter.

Valorie Rice has been missing since about 2:30 p.m. Saturday when she apparently walked away from a group home in Tustin.

“I’m afraid she’s trying to get to Colorado to see her boyfriend,” said her mother, Linda Stadel of Costa Mesa. “But she doesn’t have any money, so she can’t buy food or take care of herself. She has to have food to take with her insulin, otherwise she’ll go into a coma. I’m afraid she may be in a coma right now.”

Stadel said her daughter took a supply of insulin with her and knows how to administer it. She said Rice “only has the mental age of an 8-year-old, but she can fool you when you first meet her.” She said her daughter, sometimes called Laurie, has been under medical care all her life.

She said her daughter was showing uncharacteristic violent behavior shortly before leaving the home on Saturday.

Rice was described as five feet tall, 118 pounds, with shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing purple pants and shirt and a bulky pink cardigan. She wore a chain with a ring on it around her neck and carried a duffel bag, her mother said.

Police Detective Jim Hein said there are no indications that Rice has been the victim of foul play. Anyone with knowledge of Rice’s whereabouts is asked to call Tustin police at (714) 544-5424.